The Phoenix
by TrinityVex34
Summary: With Adam, Ilia, Blake, and Cinder returning to Remnant, and some new other worldly visitors, they must defeat Salem, but how? They must ally with those who hate them most in order to defeat the queen of the grimm. Continued from Sand, Blood, and Fire. Lemons will be included from time to time.
1. Return to Remnant

Amatus Messor (Courier Six)

Few rays of sun managed to reach the Courier and Cinder as they walked through the streets, looking for a place to stay. They had already gone to five different lenders who shot them down. It was beginning to rain, the clouds blocking the last few rays of light as Six walked into another business.

"Listen Cinder, you'll need to stay outside this time, just give me the lien," Amatus pleaded as he got to the door.

"Sure, but you'll be cooking dinner tonight," Cinder said in a huff as she crossed her arms.

"Thanks, honey," Six said with a smile as he rustled her hair before walking into the establishment. He took a seat at the table, talking with the realtor.

"So, I assume you're here for some sort of living accommodations?" the man asked.

"Yea, it'll just be me and my girlfriend, that won't be a problem, will it?" The Courier asked, leaning in closer to the realtor.

"Not at all," he replied, handing Six the paperwork. He quickly filled it out, and handed it back to him. The man looked over the paperwork, nodding as he read it. "Alright Mr. Messor, i'll expect the first payment by-"

"I have it right here," Amatus said, handing the realtor a stack of lien.

The man looked over it with shock, giving him the keys. "But sir, this is double the amount?!"

Six chuckled as he walked out of the business. "Then consider the first two months paid for." Amatus joined up with Cinder as they walked over to their new base. Cinder inspected the house as Six went out to buy ingredients for dinner.

"Before you go out, make sure you buy yourself a scroll. We'll be able to contact each other far more effectively than with our pip-boys. Here's the list of ingredients for dinner," Cinder explained, handing him the list.

"_I'm going to need to really dry out my duster once I get back," _Six thought as he adjusted his cowboy hat and put on his shades. As he went shopping, Amatus noticed multiple signs reading: No Faunus Allowed, above the food stalls.

He walked up to one of the stall owners in order to get more information. "Hey man, what's a faunus?" Six asked as he looked over the wide variety of meats.

"Really?! You've never heard of faunus?! Ha! I like you, you're a funny guy!" the shopkeeper bellowed as he gave a hardy slap on Six's back.

"I'm being serious," Six responded.

"Oh, is that so? Well, I'll humor you. A faunus is a freak of nature. They cause nothing but trouble. You can't miss the miscreants, they usually have some type of physical animal features, be it a tail, second set of ears, claws, etc," the man explained.

"Oh, then I'll keep that in mind!" Six said with a smile as he bought the meat and headed over to an electronics store on the second level.

As he opened the door, it gave off a cute ring. Amatus walked up to the counter, asking the woman with a berete who was manning it for a scroll.

"Of course! I'll go get one for you!" she answered, walking to the back. As she did, she had to duck under the short door frame, only for her berete to get knocked off, revealing her racoon ears.

"You're… a faunus."

"Please don't tell my boss!" she pleaded. "I'll give you some lien if you want!"

"You don't have to do that, all I want is the scroll," Six replied as the woman quickly put her berete back over her ears.

She came back minutes later, and processed the transaction. "Thank you so much…" the cashier said as Six took the scroll as waved goodbye.

"Don't mention it!" Amatus chuckled as he started the walked back home. By that point, the rain started to fade away as a rainbow replaced the dark, ominous clouds. "_I didn't know things were this bad for the faunus,"_ Six thought, opening the door to the apartment.

Cinder helped set up Six's scroll while the Courier prepped for dinner. "Amatus, tomorrow you'll need to start thinking about what you want your weapon to be. It should include a melee component and ranged aspect. Once you've created your weapon, you ought to sign up for the licensing exam. Due to the lack of huntsmen in the area they're holding one in a few days. This way you could get a huntsman license and complete your image in Remnant," Cinder explained.

"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" Six said with a lighthearted laugh as he started to cook the meat he had bought. "There's something I want to ask you, why do people here hate the faunus so much?"

"It's probably because this is where the White Fang's main base is. They carry out terrorist attacks on the civilian population for what they see as retribution. In turn, the humans retaliate with harsher and more violent discrimination. A self sustaining cycle of sorts."

"Who started it?"

"Well technically the humans did, only giving the faunus a mostly useless island after the human kingdoms were defeated by the faunus armies. But that was sixty years ago, and now its just senseless violence. As for the White Fang, they were originally a peaceful organization trying to get the faunus equal rights, but after the slow and minimal amount of success, the more violent faction took control and that's how they became the White Fang of today."

"I see…"

"Oh, what's this?" Cinder asked, looking at her own scroll. "A message… from Adam," Cinder said with exasperation.

"Who's he?" Six questioned as he chopped the carrots and water chestnuts.

"He hold great sway in the White Fang, and he wants to meet with me tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yea," Cinder replied, only for a distressed look to appear on her face.

"What is it?"

"He asked about you, by your title: Courier Six."

"What did he ask about me?"

"If you were with me, what should I say?"

"Be honest, tell him I'm here."

"Ok." Cinder typed up her reply and sent it. Both Six and Cinder waited in suspense, only the sizzling of the meat could be heard. Then they received a reply. "He… wants you and me to meet with him tomorrow."

"Interesting. I'll go and get the weapon parts in the morning, and we can meet with Adam in the afternoon."

"Sounds like a plan. So how's dinner doing?" Cinder asked as she set their places, putting a single candle in the middle and lighting it once the food was ready. Six turned off the lights and joined her at the table. They ate in relative silence, until it was broken by a sudden realization on the part of Amatus.

"Oh no! We left ED-E and Rex behind!"

"I'm sure they'll be fine. I was able to set up an automatic feeder that dispenses food and water into Rex's bowls twice a day, so he should be fine," Cinder replied as she swallowed a spoonful of peas.

"And ED-E should be fine, so long as he has someone to be with," Six sighed, relaxing his posture as he took a drink from his glass of wine.

"See? Everything's ok. Now let's enjoy our dinner," Cinder advised as she softly placed her hands over Amatus'.

"Thanks," he said with a smile, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead, before returning to his food. They finished up dinner and got ready for bed.

"What are you doing?" Cinder inquired, watching as Amatus systematically smacked the sheets and mattress of the bed.

"Checking for bedbugs and any other type of pest," Six explained as he finished up his inspection. "You get used to it when you live where I have."

"It makes sense," the pyromancer said, putting on a nightcap. Amatus got in bed, trying to make as much room for Cinder.

"Now you get comfortable now, you hear?" Six teased.

"Yea." Cinder climbed on top of him as rested her head on Six's collar bone. She felt the blankets drape over her as the two of them drifted off to sleep. As he slept, a vision began to reveal itself to Six.

The vision began to show a large battle taking place in a small city of sorts. One side was made up entirely of faunus, a few were wearing white masks that covered their upper face, while the rest seemed to be civilians. All of the faunus were holding mostly laser and plasma pistols, only the masked fighters wielding plasma and laser rifles. On the other side stood the Legion, butchering the faunus side as dynomite and throwing spears were tossed into their ranks, causing havoc and mayhem and disrupting their formation.

Then the vision seemed to zoom into the image, focusing on two girls. "_Ilia! Blake!"_ Six thought as the two girls seemed to be fighting off some Legion Centurions. Then, a man in a black trench coat and a white mask leaped over them, decapitating the centurions and continuing on his way. The two girls followed him, eventually reaching a command tent in the outskirts of the city. Just as they entered it, the vision started to fade and was replaced with another. It only appeared for a few minutes before it faded. The visage was that of a young adult female with long, blonde hair tied up in a french braid who held an electrified sword in one hand, and pistol in the other. She wore commando boots and combat armor. Six was awoken by Cinder as she shifted in her sleep.

Ilia Amitola

"Sister Amitola, I need to speak with you," Yuma said as he led Ilia out of their bunk and out into the street. "It's about this Vulpes Inculta human."

"What is it?" Ilia asked.

"He rubs me the wrong way. I've met many people, most faunus, some human. The ones who've given me this gut feeling always ended up betraying me in the end. I'm just glad Corsac and Fennec feel the same way."

"Yea, I feel the same way, he gives me the creeps," Ilia replied as she looked around the streets.

"Wait, what was that?!" Yuma hissed as he took to the skies.

"Yuma! What did you see?" Ilia asked as she tried to keep up with Yuma.

"A spy! Go get sister Trifa and meet me in market street! I'll pursue this spy, now go!"

Ilia nodded as she ran back towards the barracks. She rushed into the bunk room and dashed towards Trifa's bed, violently shaking her until she started to wake up.

"Ugh, Ilia, what is it?" she said as she swatted Ilia's hands away.

"Brother Yuma and I found a spy, and we need you!" Ilia said, finally gaining the interest of Trifa. The spider faunus grabbed a dagger and Ilia grabbed her plasma pistol and ran back towards Yuma's direction.

"Damnit, Ilia, you should have kept track of where he's going, now we have to find him!" Trifa said with irritancy. Suddenly, Yuma was thrown from the alley onto the street by a man wearing frumentarii armor and wielding a machete.

"Get back here, spy!" Yuma shouted as he tackled the Legion soldier. "Who are you with?!" he shouted, putting him into a chokehold, only for him to be stabbed in the gut.

"Yuma!" Trifa shouted as she charged the frunmentari with her dagger. The man ducked and weaved out of the way of the spider faunus' rabid slashes. Ilia cracked Lover's Scorn, wrapping the whip section around one of his legs. He stood his ground, blocking a few blows from Trifa with his machete.

"You disgusting freaks will be subjugated like all the tribes before you! Your women will be our slaves! Your children will become our soldiers! And your men will be slaughtered!" the man shouted as he lunged forward at Trifa with killing intent. Yuma tackled him from behind, disarming the Legion spy.

"Who do you work for?!" Yuma shouted.

"Like I'll ever tell you," the frumentarii sneered before biting down, a small tablet in place of his teeth breaking, killing him almost instantly. He began to spasm before passing on.

"Those markings…" Ilia said, covering her mouth as her eyes widened.

"Sister Ilia, what is it?" Yuma asked.

"I've seen that bull before," she said, pointing to the silhouette of a bull that was on the spy's armor. "It was the same as the Legion," Ilia explained.

"The Legion? Who're they?" Trifa asked.

"I… don't know. All I know is that they're a formidable force. I think there might be someone who knows more."

"Who is it?" Yuma asked.

"Adam Taurus. From what I know, he was taken prisoner by them, forced to fight for them, but that's all I know," Ilia answered.

"For all we know, he could _still_ be fighting for them," Trifa replied, rubbing her chin in thought.

"That's not a risk we can take lightly," Yuma said as he started to walk back to the barracks, clutching his wound. "Let's get back to our bunks get some rest before the day starts." However, the sun began to rise in the sky.

"Damnit, I was hoping to get some sleep," Trifa groaned.

"Come on, lets go report what happened to the Albain brothers," Ilia said as Yuma, Trifa, and she walked towards the house of the head of the Menagerie branch of the White Fang. When they arrived, only Fennec was there.

"Brother Fennec! A Legion spy has been found in the city. He killed himself before we could get any more information out of him," Yuma explained.

"I see. I'll inform brother Corsac about this, in the meantime, patrol the streets for any more spies. We want our people to be safe in their own city, after all."

Trifa, Ilia, and Yuma nodded and left, leaving Fennec alone. Ilia pulled up her scroll and looked to find that Blake had sent her a message.

"Meet me in the town square," Ilia read aloud as she walked through the empty city streets.

"Who is that from?" Trifa asked, leering over the chameleon faunus.

"Blake. She's an old friend of mine that I haven't seen for awhile," Ilia lied as she ran off.

"Wait! You're supposed to be patrolling with us!" Trifa shouted, only for Yuma to place a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine. We can ask some of the other White Fang agents to help us patrol," Yuma said as he watched Ilia run off into distance.

"Blake!" Ilia shouted with glee as she delivered a powerful bearhug to her old friend.

"Ilia! It's so good to see you! You need to come with me," Blake said, dragging her back to her home.

"Blake, what's the matter?" Ilia asked with a nervous chuckle.

"We need to talk about Vulpes, he's been making some odd moves as of today," Blake explained.

"Well why do you need _me_ for it?" Ilia questioned.

"Because of your connection to the White Fang and the weapons you have. The chief of the local police is at our house and needs your expertise. My father asked me to get you, so let's go!" Blake said as the two them ran up the steps to the Belladonna household. Blake crashed through the thick, wood doors, bumping into Kali with excitement.

The two of them met up with Ghira and the chief of police of Kuo Kuana. The two were having tea and talking when Blake and Ilia barged into the room. "We're here!" Blake shouted as she began to catch her breath.

"Good, now let's get to our discussion," Ghira said, offering the girls some tea.

"So, the reason we're all talking today is because of the human known as Vulpes Inculta. Truth be told, I don't trust him at all. Whenever I think of him I get a worse feeling than the Albain brothers. This morning I received some intel on something that shook me to my core," the chief of police said as he placed a picture of the Legion army onto the coffee table. "I got this picture for Fennec himself. He said there was a _mutual interest_ in the White Fang and police force of Kuo Kuana working together in this endeavour."

"Blake, Ilia, do either of you know who these people are? Are they from the world you visited?" Ghira asked, only to receive a scoff from the chief of police. "What do you find so amusing?"

"I just find it funny that you believe that they went to another world," he retorted.

"You don't have to believe us, just trust us. We _all_ want the people of Kuo Kuana to be safe," Blake said as she placed a plasma pistol and laser pistol onto the table. "And we're going to use these to do it."

"And how do you think two small pistols will help us fight off an invading army?"

"Who said it'll just be two? I plan on reverse engineering these weapons so that I can create more of them to use. However, it'll take days for me to do that, so I'll need you and your men to do whatever they can to buy me that time."

"Well at least we have _a_ plan, but I can't give my men orders if we don't know _who_ it is we're fighting."

"Don't worry, Blake and I have some information on the Legion. They specialize in melee weaponry and thrown weapons. However, they also use firearms such as shotguns, carbines, and submachine guns. Unfortunately that's all we can tell you, as we never fought them head-on," Ilia explained.

"Alright, anything else to add?" the chief asked.

"No, that's it."

"I see, well I'll start getting our men ready for an invasion," the chief said as he waved them goodbye.

"This is bad," Ghira said with a heavy sigh.

"Don't worry dad, everything will be fine," Blake reassured him with smile.

"I can only hope. With the fall of Beacon and added instability in the Kingdom of Mistral, Menagerie is in a very dangerous position. Not to mention the fact that we're far behind technologically compared to the other kingdoms. If they wanted to, any of the four kingdoms could invade our little island with little resistance. We're just lucky three fourths of this island is nothing but sand."

"I'll give our people hope," Blake said with a confident smile on her face.

"Blake! Something's happening outside!" Ilia shouted as she rushed to the front door. Blake soon joined her to find a daunting sight.

Vulpes Inculta leading his entire army into the capital city of Menagerie, Kuo Kuana. Each soldier was holding a machete, the entire group walking in lockstep towards the Belladonna Manor. Vulpes seized the podium as the people started to hesitantly approach.

"My name is Vulpes Inculta. You may be wondering why I have brought my men into this city? Well fear not, for my men are only here for food and water. If you let us, we could even help you all progress technologically. We will bring you great things, so long as you trust us. However, if you so much as _try_ to bring harm to me or my men, then you will be made an example out of, like these two," Vulpes said as Corsac and Fennec were led in front of the podium by two Legion Centurions.

The two brothers were forced into a kneeling position. As the Centurions drew their thermal lances. "These two were found conspiring to slaughter my men, my comrades! They wanted to kill those whom i've fought alongside for years! What a horrific scheme to create. But worry not, for I will give them one more chance to prove to me that they mean me no harm. Confess! Impart unto me the truth, and who you were conspiring with, and I will spare one of you. As for the other, well I'll spare you the details."

"You'll never win! Not against the faunus, not against the White Fang!" Fennec shouted.

"If you insist," Vulpes motioned to the Centurions and one of them stabbed Fennec in the side until he ceased to move. He then took out a curved gladius and slit his throat in full view of the crowd. Shocked screams and terrified gasps filled the area as Fennec's dead body was shoved to the ground.

The second one pulled out a cowboy repeater, firing three shots into Corsac's head, killing him instantly. "Now that that's taken care of, if any of you wish to join our ranks, you are more than welcomed to. In return for your obedience to our cause, your families will be given extra protection in the event of an attack. Oh, one last thing. In order to foster a… cooperative environment, we will be confiscating all weapons within your possession. If we find anyone producing, developing, or distributing weapons, they will be executed. That is all, have a nice day," Vulpes said as he walked down from the podium.

Adam Taurus

"Oh, Adam, what has become of you," Sienna said with a scowl as the White Fang Elites slowly advanced towards the four of them with their spears at the ready. "After that whole month and a half of worrying about you, I come to find that you've gained sympathy for the humans after _everything_ they did to us, to _you_. What happened in those six weeks?" Sienna asked as she approached Amnia, tightly grabbing her by the hair and shoving her to the ground.

"Ow! That hurt!" Amnia shouted as she tried to get up, only for multiple spears to be pointed at her neck.

"Here, human, you're nothing but our slave. You'll make for a fun plaything for the men in the barracks. Take her away!" Sienna ordered as the elites took her by the arms.

"No!" Adam shouted, tightly gripping Wilt and Blush. "She's _mine_."

"Adam…" Amnia softly whispered under her breath, a single tear rolling down her cheek. The elites looked back at Adam, who now had his blade drawn, aiming it at Amnia's captors.

"Release her into my custody, Sienna, and no one will have to die," Adam ordered. The eilites shoved Amnia to Adam, who caught her in a tight embrace.

"And just what should I do with these two human males?" Sienna asked with exasperation.

"You should train the little one. His name's Brutus. We could turn him to our side, and use him to fight against those who would wish to see us oppressed once more. Since he's a human, he will blend right in with our foes. And as for Joshua, he's a war chief and can assist us with planning our operations. It would be beneficial to let them assist us," Adam explained.

"Is that so?" Sienna asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what of this human woman you seem so fond of? Is she your lover? Has she corrupted your ideals, Adam?"

"That's not it!" Amnia shouted as she hung onto Adam's arm. "I love him! I won't be any trouble for you, I promise," Amnia begged.

"Fine. But you will be confined to Adam's quarters until further notice. Boy, come with me," Sienna said, motioning for Brutus to follow her. "Oh, I almost forgot, Joshua was it? You will be in a room adjacent to Adam's. Now you three should go," Sienna said, waving them away. Adam and Amnia entered their now shared room, and Joshua entered his. The second the door shut, Amnia began to breakdown in Adam's arms.

"Amnia, what's wrong?" Adam asked, as he tried his best to comfort her.

"I… I was almost made a…" Amnia said in between her loud bawling.

"Shhhh, I'm here for you, Amnia. We should get some sleep," Adam said as he lifted her onto his queen sized bed and tucked her in. Adam took off his shirt and moved over to his personal bathroom. Amnia tightly grabbed Adam's wrist.

"Please, stay with me Adam." The bull faunus sighed as he relented and climbed into bed with her. She cuddled up with him as a few locks of her silky black hair fell onto his face. Adam quickly fell asleep as he felt Amnia's hand glide across his chest to his cheek, gently holding it as she softly kissed Adam on the lips. He could feel the rising and falling of her chest which was pressed against his. He felt her heavy breaths brush up against his face as she gave a more impassioned kiss, a kiss that was then returned as Adam wrapped his hands around her.

"You know you're real cute when you kiss me," Amnia giggled as she took off her shirt.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked.

"Well… I thought since _your_ shirt was off, that I'd take mine off too. You don't mind, do you?"

"Its fine, do as you like," Adam said, only for Amnia to lay on top of him, showing off her natural features. Adam began to massage her back, lulling her into a calm sleep. "Mmmm, Adam, I want to stay with you…" Amnia murmured as a puddle of drool started to collect on Adam's chest.

"_She's pretty cute when she's like this. She kinda a slob, especially the way she sleeps,"_ Adam chuckled as he continued to rub Amnia's back. After a few hours, Adam drifted off into sleep. However, his rest was quickly disturbed as he felt Amnia violently shift in her sleep as she tightly held onto Adam.

"Mother! Father!" she cried, tears falling from her eyes. Adam held her close, trying to wake her. He held her head gently in his arms as Amnia started to wake. She looked up at him, tear streaks across her face. "Adam… I don't deserve to have you as a companion…"

"That's not true! You've helped Brutus and I when we needed you most, you helped to fill the hole of emptiness with comfort and warmth. If there's one thing I know, its that without you, I'd be lost in more ways than one," Adam countered. The two of them hugged, and went back to sleep, this time sleeping peacefully under the thick, soft blankets.

The next morning he awoke to the sound of Amnia's soft breaths tickling his ear. "Hey, we should get ready for today," Adam said as he climbed out of bed, stretching his arms with a yawn.

"Hmmmm, five more minutes!" Amnia groaned as she sucked up a drip of saliva back into her mouth.

"Ok. Hold on, since you can't leave the room, you can sleep in a long as you like," the bull faunus said as he bundled Amnia up in the comforting blankets. She gave off a pleasant hum as Adam left the room, not noticing a syringe filled with a certain yellow substance in his hand.

He walked out to the meeting room, seeing Sienna and Joshua already seated and having a quite lively discussion. "Do you _really_ expect that to work?! You're more insane than most humans!" Sienna shouted, banging her fist on the table in protest.

"Yes, I do. I've used such tactics before, and they seem to be quite effective. If you like I could give you more options," Joshua responded.

"That would be appreciated. Ah, Adam, so glad you could join us," Sienna greeted.

"What were you two talking about?" Joshua and Sienna turned to look at eachother.

"We've lost contact with the Menagerie branch, and we don't know why," Sienna explained.

"Do you think they've been attacked?" Adam asked as he took a seat at the table.

"Its possible, but we don't want to send troops into the capital if they haven't been. It'll be bad optics and we might start losing support from our people. We need some sort of confirmation. What are your thoughts, human?"

"Well, if they _are_ under attack, we'll soon receive a message stating so. In the meantime, you should start preparing troops to send over at a moment's notice, and also some specialists who could train the civilians to fight against the possible threat. The more people who are ready to fight, the greater your odds of victory. But at the same time, the civilians must also be trained in guerilla tactics, since it would be a war fought on familiar grounds," Joshua advised.

"Guerilla tactics?" Sienna asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Hit and run tactics, no direct confrontation. Have you heard of Sun Tsu's _The Art of War_?" Joshua asked.

"I can't say I have."

"I have." Both Sienna Khan and Joshua Graham turned to face the White Fang Lieutenant. "In fact, I have a copy on me right now," Adam said, placing the book in front of him on the table.

"And where did you get that from?" Joshua asked.

"The Legate Lanius," he answered.

Joshua's eyes widened as he leaned back in his chair. "That makes sense. You did serve under the Legion after all, and if you were Lanius' apprentice for a while it wouldn't be far fetched to come into possession of such a book."

"Who is the Legion? Who is this Legate Lanius?" Sienna questioned as she leaned in closer to Adam. Suddenly Adam lunged forward, injecting Sienna with an unknown serum. "Adam! What is this!" She shouted as she felt her muscles began to weaken.

"I'm sorry, Sienna. It won't kill you if that's what you're wondering. You're like a second mother to me, but you've led our people down a less respectable path. It wasn't until I was in that unforgiving wasteland that I realized something. Something so important to our cause. It's even a common phrase in that world, the world called Earth. It goes like this; War, War never changes. Do you know what it means?" Adam asked as he gently carried a helpless Sienna out of the room.

"No…" She whispered as he carried her to her room.

"It means, that violence begets violence. It's a continuous cycle of hatred and war. And I intend to end that cycle of pain and suffering," Adam answered, placing a now unconscious Sienna Khan on her bed, tucking her in. "I'm glad I didn't have to kill you." Adam walked out of her room, ordering three elite guards to keep her on house arrest.

Joshua caught up with him. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"I was planning to overthrow her for quite some time now. The only thing that changed was _how_ I did it. Originally I would have killed her, but after my time with the Legion and then with you and Amnia, I realized I couldn't kill her, so I simply sedated her instead."

"And how do you think the rest of the organization will react? Your movement will fail if you have no considerate backing," Joshua advised.

"Don't worry, old man. I've become quite popular within the White Fang, so I have the backing. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to let Amnia out of my room.

AN: And that's the first chapter of SBF's continuation! I really hope you guys liked it! Oooooh there just so much potential conflict for the first major arc alone! I'm so excited to write about it all! I'm also trying to add some world building into the word of Remnant. Please leave a review and tell me what you think!


	2. Return to Form

Amatus Messor

The Courier slowly opened his eyes with a yawn, trying and failing to stretch his arms out. He looked around to see Cinder holding tightly onto his arms, keeping them restrained as she rested her head on his chest.

"Rex, how did your metal components get so soft?" Cinder mumbled to herself as she squeezed his arms tighter. She shifted her position, now constricting Amatus into being bear-hugged.

"_You're pretty strong, considering your muscle mass," _Six thought as he listened to Cinder's sleepy admissions.

"Oh Rex, I'm sorry I left you back there, you'd love the meats here in Remnant," Cinder said as she released from the hold to pet Six's head. "Good boy, now fetch!" Cinder shouted as she grabbed a ball and threw it across the room.

Amatus rolled his eyes and flicked her in the forehead. "Cinder, dear, I'm not Rex," Six said with a chuckle. Cinder blushed as she opened her eyes, hiding her face with her hands.

"How much did you hear?" She asked shyly, refusing to face the Courier.

"When you were commenting about Rex's metal components being soft."

"Oh my god, that's so embarrassing…" Cinder mumbled as she buried her head in his chest. Six gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, wrapping her head in his arms. The pyromancer nuzzled her head in his arms with a pleasured hum. "How long do I have until you have to go?" Cinder asked, looking up at Six with the biggest puppy eyes she could muster.

"I guess I could spare a few more minutes, how about you sleep in for the morning once I head out?"

"That would sound nice, I think I'll take you up on your offer," Cinder said as she went to go get changed for the day. Six did the same and grabbed some Lien for the parts. The two of them reconvened in the kitchen. "So, dear, do you have any ideas of what you want your weapon to be?"

"Yea, I was thinking an electrified flamethrower sword," Six answered as he brandished his katana. "And I'm going to use this as the base."

"Good idea, but you might need to modify the base form of the blade to hold such modifications," Cinder suggested.

"How thick are we talking?" Six asked as he took a sip of jasmine tea.

"For your type of attachments, I'd go for at least half and inch to one and a half," Cinder recommended as she pounded down some black coffee.

"Thanks for the recommendation, have a nice morning, honey," Six said, giving his lover a kiss on the lips before leaving for the store. He looked around, finding no part stores around. Suddenly, his scroll began to vibrate, receiving a call from Cinder.

He took the call, holding the scroll up to his ear. "I forgot to tell you, part stores are on the second level. You can get there by walking up the Grand Staircase of Mistral. It should be close by. Also, the huntsman licensing exam will be in four hours, so be quick with your errand, and return quickly."

"Understood, I'll be quick," Amatus said as he began to long and arduous climb up the Grand Staircase of Mistral. "_By the sands…"_ Six thought as he looked up, only being half way there. He moved up to second level of Mistral, finding it far more hospitable than the first. Those who inhabited this level wore beautiful clothes. Six looked around, eventually finding a weapon parts shop, and entered.

Six was greeted by a welcoming chime and a hardy greeting from the store owner. "Welcome to Blades and Blunt! Home to all your weapon constructing needs! So son, what are you building today?"

Six approached the counter as he unrolled the schematics for his special blade. "I'll need a one inch thick blade. Also I'll need some flamethrower components and some electrical nodes for the blade," Six explained, giving the man at the counter the necessary lien.

"Ah, I see, you're going for a combo sword then?"

"A combo sword?" Six asked as he received the components.

"Yea, a weapon with more than one ranged component and it usually has an elemental part to it as well. You wouldn't happen to be applying a huntsman licence through the exam today, are you?" the shopkeep asked.

"Yea, how did you know?" Six injured.

"That glint in your eyes. I've seen it once before, in the eyes of a silver eyed legend known as The Grimm Reaper."

"The Grimm Reaper? Who's that?"

"What?! You haven't heard of the Grimm Reaper?! Well, she was a legendary huntress who slayed _hundreds_ of grimm until her untimely demise in her late twenties," the man explained.

"Is that so?"

"Damn right! Now, this'll cost you twenty thousand lien," his said, placing all of the parts on the counter. Six nodded and gave him the money.

"Damn, this is a lot to carry," Six mumbled as he lumbered out of the shop with boxes piled ontop of eachother. He made his way around the second floor, looking for The Grand Staircase, only for him to bump into someone.

"Hey pal! Watch where you're going?!" A raspy voice shouted. Six looked around the dropped parts to see a man with short black hair, a red tattered cape, long black pants, a grey vest, and a cross hung sideways.

"Sorry sir," Six said, rubbing his head.

"That's a lot of stuff you got there, mind if I help you out?" the tall man asked.

"By all means."

"Pal, what's your name?" the man asked as he picked up two boxes.

"Amatus Messor, and you?"

"Huh, funny name, kid. Mine's Qrow Branwen. So, where are we taking this stuff?" the youngest of the Branwen twins asked.

"It ain't far, just a small house on the first level."

"Really? If you want, I have an extra bed on a house on the third level you could stay at," Qrow offered.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline the offer. I'm living with another person, so I don't think she'll be too pleased about that," Six explained. "Why are you offering me a place at your home anyways?"

Qrow sighed. "I need as many huntsman as I can get, and since it looks like you'll be taking the licensing exam, you'll be a perfect person to help me and my group."

"Surely you've found someone… more qualified?" Amatus asked.

"No. You're the first one I've found," the veteran huntsman said, high hopes low in the sewers.

"Oh, well I'll make sure to pass that exam!" Six said with exuberance as they approached the house. As Qrow placed the boxes down at the door, it began to open, and Qrow and Cinder's eyes met and he ran away.

"Six! Shut the door!" she shouted as The Courier snatched the parts and slammed the door shut. "What the hell were you thinking, bring _Qrow Branwen_ to the house?!" Cinder hissed.

"I didn't know I was supposed to avoid him!" Six countered.

Cinder gave a heavy sigh as she slumped down into her seat. "Its fine, just go make your weapon, I'll start making plans in case he decides to raid. I'll go speak with Adam while you're participating in the exam."

Six nodded, taking the parts to his room. He started to construct his weapon, which he named, Ionized Flame. The thick blade and even thicker hilt and handle supporting the flamethrower nozzles placed on each side of the blade. Electricity coursed through holes in the blade that were lined with a different metallic material, the fire dust tanks were strapped the to back of the handle, and finally, the edge of the blade was coated absorption dust composite, a throttle acting as the trigger to connect to the firing mechanism. As a finishing touch, Six created a gauntlet for his right hand with lines of gravity dust wrapping around the fingers of the gauntlet, and he used the same strand of gravity dust within the handle of Ionized Flame.

Six emerged from the workshop with his self-made weapon and a look of success on his face. "Finally finished with your machiavellian masterpiece? It looks as big as Lanius'." Cinder asked with a smug smirk written across her face.

"Now where did you learn about Machiavelli from?" Six asked as he slung his new weapon over his shoulder.

"Well, once you passed out after our love-making sessions, I would often times start reading a book for a few hours. I decided to keep most of them and bring them back to my world. They're quite enlightening, one of my favorites has been Sun Tsu's _The Art of War_. It's quite intriguing," Cinder said as she sipped her coffee. "Oh, and good luck on your exam."

"Thanks dear, do you know what it'll be on?" Amatus inquired, only to receive a shake of the head from Cinder.

"Its randomized, so I don't have a clue what they're going to throw at you. Well, best of luck," Cinder waved as The Courier made his way to the exam site, finding the main point of the site being one of the many entrances to Mistral.

"All right, are you huntsman in training ready?! It's time for the exam!" the proctor said with over exaggerated exuberance. "Your examination has a simple, goal!"

"Let's just get this over with," a huntsman said with irritance, as he turned to his partner.

"Yea, this guy's just wasting our time," the huntress replied.

"-is to rescue the civilian from the grimm, and return here with them, with both of you alive. If you die, you fail. If the civilian dies, you fail. If you can't make it back within an hour and a half with those specifications met, you fail. There are civilians all throughout these woods, now go and save them!" the announcer shouted as the gates slowly creaked open and dozens of huntsmen and huntresses rushed out into the woods.

Six found a civilian within arms reach, only for a mechanical throwing spear to land in between them, and a roguish looking huntress jumped down, picking up the spear. "Get away from that civilian!" She shouted, activating the ranged form of the weapon, turning it into a rifle and aiming it at The Courier's head.

"Wait! I was gonna save her! What makes you think you can just do this?!" Six shouted back as he brandished Ionized Flame, the huntress stood her ground.

"There's still time, asshole!" she threatened.

"_I never thought the people in this world would be so similar to those in the Mojave,"_ Six thought as he went on his way. As ran through the thick woods, the sound of gunshots in the distance along with an angry roar. "_That must be the grimm Cinder was talking about."_ Six took a look at his pip-boy as he realized twenty minutes had passed. "_I need to speed it up or else I'm toast!"_ Six heard desperate cries for help as he saw a huntsman running from the source. Six stopped him, trying to get some answers from him. "What happened?" Six asked.

"Grimm! Dozens of them! The damned civi broke her leg and I ain't gonna carry that damned faunus across the finish line! She'll slow me down and then we'll _both_ die!" he answered, shaking with the amount of adrenaline pumping through him.

"Where is she?!" Six demanded and the man pointed behind him.

"Just follow that path!" the man said as he went on his way. "Fucking faunus lovers," he mumbled under his breath.

Six rushed on the aforementioned trail, finally encountering a creature of grimm in the flesh. It was similar in appearance with that of a yao guai, with white bone claws and a bone-like face plate. It gave a mighty roar and slashed at Six, only being blocked by Ionized Flame's gigantic blade. He pressed down the throttle, a flame erupting from the nozzles and burning the Ursa. It continued to blindly swipe at its foe, only for Six to evade the deadly claws and cut right down the middle of its torso. It collapsed, dead, and black smoke began to billow from its wound. Once its flesh was gone, only the external bone structures like its claws and face-plate remained.

He continued down the path, eventually finding the injured faunus with some smaller, more wolf-like grimm getting closer to her. Six rushed into action, quickly killing one of the grimm, only to block a blow from another, the electricity electrocuting the grimm who were touching the blade. "Are you alright?" Six asked, as he fended off the remaining grimm.

"No, I've sprained both my ankles and I've dislocated my left arm," the female faunus said. "You should look for someone else to save, I can't walk and as such won't be able to help you with the exam," she said, her head hung low.

"Nonsense! Get on my back!" Six suggested as the rabbit faunus' ears perked up.

"R-really?!" she asked in disbelief.

"Yea, I'm not gonna leave you behind," Six said as he helped her onto his back. "Are you secure?" he asked as she gave him a nod.

Six ran off towards the entrance which the beginning of the exam was. He looked down at his pip-boy, realizing he had twenty-five minutes left. Just as he was starting to see the familiar arch, a group of huntsman blocked his path.

"Now where do you think you're going with _her_?" a man holding a barbed mace asked, slowly circling the two of them with killing intent.

"What do you think?" Six shot back with a venomous retort.

"_I_ think you're trying to save that faunus. A faunus that would have been _our_ little plaything," he replied as the two ranged huntsman drew their bows, aiming the arrows at Six. "Now… I'll leave you on your merry way if you should decide to leave her in our care."

"And if I refuse?"

"You'll die. Simple as that," the leader said as he pointed his mace at Six. "So, what'll it be?"

"This," Six said, pulling out a glass ball filled with sand.

The entire group erupted in boisterous laughter. "And what'll you do with that?! Sprinkle sand on me?!" the leader snickered.

A silent grin began to grow on Six's face as he gave a flick, and the sand broke out from the glass ball, sending the shards flying at the man's face. Six created a thick wall of sand, protecting him and his civilian form the incoming arrows. The leader rushed him, taking a few broad swings before being run through with Ionized Flame. He collapsed on the dirt floor, blood leaking out of him.

"Now unless the rest of you want to end up like him, I suggest you two run along," Six said, glaring at the two archers, who promptly made their exit back into the woods.

"Y-you didn't have to do th-that," the faunus lady said shyly as she hid behind his broad shoulders, burying her face in his back.

"Don't worry about it," Six mentioned as they arrived at the entrance with five minutes left to go. They arrived and Six received his license, waving goodbye to the faunus.

"Thank you very much sir, for saving me. This good deed won't go unrewarded," she said with a wink.

"Oh, maybe a different type of reward, because I have a lady of my own," Six said.

"I understand." The female faunus bowed and left. "But you will be rewarded."

"_Man, it's been a long morning, I could go for a nice nap,"_ Six thought as he made his way back to the house. Once he arrived in his humble abode, Amatus nearly collapsed on the couch, looking up at his license. "Certified Huntsman: Amatus Messor. Sounds… official," Six chuckled.

Suddenly there was a knock on the front door, and Six went to greet the new arrivals. However, when he opened the door, he didn't see Cinder. Instead, he saw a blonde young woman, a blonde haired young man, and Qrow Branwen.

"Hey… Qrow, what are you doing here?" Six asked, only to be knocked out by the blonde brawler. He awoke in a dingy room with a single lightsource, a bright lamp being shined in Six's face.

"Where is she?!" a young man shouted as he took a taser and held it to The Courier's chest. He gave off a loud scream of pain.

"By the sands, kid. You're pretty shit at interrogation, you know that?" Six quipped, only to be slapped by the same young man.

"Shut up you bastard!" he shouted.

"Jaune! Let us in!" a female voice pleaded as the person banged on the door.

"No, Ruby! He's with Cinder! She _killed_ Pyrrha! Once I find her, I'll kill her like she killed Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted.

"Jaune! Hurting this man won't help you!" Ruby pleaded.

"Ruby, the fact that this man is helping her is reason enough to at least get some information out of him," the blonde brawler retorted as Six began to wriggle free from his restraints.

"Yang! Why are you going against Ozpin's orders?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, Ruby. You always were a lot more trusting, but after speaking to my mother, I realized something. You can't always trust authority, _especially _Ozpin. He's been keeping plenty of information from us. Information that would have helped us!" Yang shouted back.

"Jaune! You're scaring me," a different female voice.

"I'm sorry Weiss, but this is what I have to do," Jaune replied as he took the taser back to Six's chest, and he blacked out once more.

The Lone Wanderer

"Lone! I found this courier guy you're looking for," Emerald said as she gave her new team leader her scroll with the video on it.

"You're just the best, my little gem!" Lone replied, giving Emerald a passionate kiss on the lips before taking the scroll from her.

"But there's just one problem…" Emerald hesitated, not wanting to tempt Lone's wrath.

"What is it my dear? You can tell me," she cooed.

"He was abducted," Mercurey said as he continued to shine his boots.

"By who?" Lone inquired, snaking around Mercurey with an inquisitive nature.

"Our foes. There's too many for us to take on, head on. We'll need more people on our team if we want to even think about killing him," Mercury explained, trying and failing to evade a smooch on the cheek from Lone. "Why do you do that so much?" he asked.

"Because I'm your loving leader, who simply can't hold back her passion for her hard-working teammates!" Lone said, giving both Mercury and Emerald a broad and warm hug. "So, do any of you have any ideas as to where we could _find_ such a teammate?" Lone asked with a wide smile on her face.

"I-i got one place we could go… Little Miss Malachite's place," Emerald suggested.

"Perfect! Then that's where we'll go!"

AN: Alright guys and gals! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I tried to add more world building to this chapter to help flesh out more of Mistral and the discrimination of the faunus. I'm _very_ excited to continue writing this fic! Thanks and look out for chapter 3!


	3. Discord in Menagerie

Blake Belladonna

The sounds of gunshots shook the cat faunus awake from her slumber. She moved over to the window, finding a riot occuring outside. She quickly threw on her cloths and rushed out of the house. She ran out to the square, finding a squad of legionaries firing on faunus civilians. In turn, some of the adult faunus were taking up arms and fighting back, butchering the legionaries with pitchforks and torches.

"What happened here?" Blake asked one of the civilians on the sidelines of the battle.

"I-it w-was a massacre. Oh, by the fang, they slaughtered our children!" the woman weeped as Blake helped her keep her composure.

"What happened, exactly?"

"Some of our kids were playing outside early in the morning, and then I heard gunshots and then they were bleeding on the ground!" the woman weeped as Blake held her up.

A volley of bullets punched through the rioting faunus' line of attack, breaking them up. The crowd scattered as more legionaries came in to reinforce the combat-engaged troops. The reinforcements rounded up some fleeing faunus and dragged them behind lines.

"I told you all that if we were met with violence, we would defend ourselves!" Vulpes announced as he arrived on scene with two centurions flanking either side of him.

"You monster! It wasn't self defense! You slaughtered our children!" the woman bellowed, only being held back by Blake.

"I'm sure my men would give a different account, but we must move forward! Thankfully my men have apprehended the rioters and they will be dealt with promptly. Please come back this afternoon to see justice be dealt to those responsible," Vulpes replied as he walked away.

Blake took the weeping woman back to her home, and then found the nearest white fang member she could find. "Blake! Are you alright?" Ilia asked when she found the cat faunus among the calming crowd.

"Yes, I'm fine, are you ok?" Blake asked in return.

"I _was_ doing alright, until I saw what happened this morning," Ilia replied, looking away from the carnage.

"There's something that I need you to help me with."

"What is it?!" Ilia asked with excitement, giddy about the idea of assisting her lover in any way possible.

"I need you to send a message to Sienna Khan, that our people are being killed in cold blood. I need you to send that message, as soon as possible," Blake said, the worried look on her face saying all it needed to. Ilia nodded as she went into the White Fang Barracks and Blake went back to her house. She continued to work on reverse engineering the energy weapons, working diligently throughout the rest of the day. As morning turn to afternoon, Blake began to grow fatigued and decided to take a walk through the capital city of Menagerie.

As she meandered through the streets, a certain spectacle caught her eye. She moved in closer, observing the gallows they were setting up. "_Are they actually going to hang those who they caught earlier today, are they?" _Blake thought to herself as she continued on her walk to a local coffee shop.

"Ah, if it isn't the Belladonna girl, welcome back!" the lizard faunus at the counter greeted, waving her over to him.

"Gerald?! Is that you?"

"Sure is! After my time in the White Fang, I decided to come back home and set up my own little shop here. How have you been? From what I can remember, the last time we spoke was before Adam and you were raiding that Schnee Dust Company shipment," Gerald said as he served Blake come jasmine tea.

"Well… I've made some friends, _human_ friends," Blake said as she sipped from the cup.

"_You_ making friends with _humans_? I never would have thought!" Gerald chuckled as he poured himself a cup of espresso. Ilia walked in, seeing Blake sitting at the bar, she joined her, ordering a glass of vodka.

"Blake," she whispered as she took a seat next to the cat faunus. "Yuma is on his way to Mistral with the message, it'll take a few days until its delivered. In the meantime we should lay low. I've heard from the other White Fang operatives that the Legion's been cracking down on our people," Ilia recommended as three legionaries walked in.

"Hey you! Freak, get us a drink!" the leader of the three demanded.

Gerald sighed as he acquiesced as he slid the three of them drinks. "You three are the freaks!" Ilia hissed under her breath.

"What was that, _faunus_?!" the leader asked, turning to Ilia, brandishing his combat knife.

"I _said_ you three are the freaks!" she shouted, taking out Lover's Scorn and readying for a fight. The other two legionaries backed up their leader as they pulled out some submachine guns. Blake backed up Ilia as she pulled out Gambol Shroud.

The head legionary started stabbing at Ilia as the two legionaries took aim at her. Blade shot an ice dust round at the legionary's leg, immobilizing him. The other two legionaries aimed at Blake, who activated her semblance, delivering a kick to the face to one, and two more shots of ice dust to the other.

Ilia was still fighting the last legionary, forced to be on the defensive. She managed to pin him to the ground, only for him to start laughing. "What's so funny you bastard?!" Ilia shouted in rage.

"Your little conspirators are going to be hung in the gallows, and there nothing you can do about it!" He bellowed with uncontrollable laughter.

"Ilia!" Blake exclaimed as the aforementioned faunus got up and ran out of the coffee shop, throwing some Lien Gerald's way as they flew out to the outside air. They dashed down the street towards the gallows, and sure enough, there were some faunus being led up the steps by Legion soldiers.

"We have to do something! They're going to be hung!" Ilia pleaded as Blake's mind was filled with dread.

"Ilia, we _have_ to stand by," Blake responded as a strange feeling of calmness overcame her.

"But why!? Our people are going to die! And here we have a chance to save them!"

"But what do you think the Legion will in retaliation? You know they killed those children in cold blood. I doubt they have any qualms about killing adults. I've been fine tuning the plasma and laser weaponry, for when we strike back. But that'll be it. We have _one_ shot to repel the Legion. If we fail, our people will be their subject for the rest of time," Blake told her lover.

"I have to do _something_, I can't just stand idly by while they're slaughtered!" Ilia snapped as she tried to make a break for the executioner.

"Ilia, no!" Blake shouted as she activated her semblance, restraining her in a clone of ice. "I'm sorry, but you can't be a martyr. Now please, come with me," Blake begged as she thawed Ilia out of the block of ice.

"F-fine. I-i'll g-go w-with y-y-you," Ilia stammered as she began to shiver. Blake led her back to her house, where they had some dinner with her parents.

"Ghira, dear, did you hear about what happened today?" Kali asked, a fused look of horror and concern written across her face.

"I'm afraid so, I'm planning on addressing the people tomorrow, though I'm afraid that Vulpes might try to kill me before I do so."

"Do you think he'd risk killing such a public person in such a public manor?" Ilia asked as she slurped up some noodles.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he did. People from the Mojave tend to be more… creative in ending lives," Blake said, thinking back to the battle at Hoover Dam, and all the factions that were fighting with each other. "_House, Legion, NCR, all so violent, and yet, that's what the world required of them if they wanted to survive,"_ Blake pondered as she ate her food.

"Blake, are you alright? It's been so long since your mother and I have seen you and ever since you've arrived you've been buried in your work," Ghira asked.

"Yea dad, I'm fine. It's just… I've been somewhere _very_ different than anywhere on Remnant. Thankfully I had Ilia by my side, and I even made some good friends along the way. But it was difficult to survive while I was there, and I think I've changed a bit. I've seen things I never wanted to see, and I had to do things I thought I'd never do," Blake answered.

"Well if you ever need to talk, your mother and I are always here for you," Ghira said before retreating to his study. "I'm going to start crafting a speech for tomorrow."

Blake, Ilia, and Kali enjoyed the rest of their dinner, sharing jokes and tales from one generation to the other. Once the three of them had concluded their dinner, they went their separate ways, Ilia going back to the White Fang Barracks, and Blake and Kali staying at the house.

Blake went to sleep, thinking back to her time in the Mojave Wasteland, thinking specifically about Courier Six and Cinder. "_Has she changed? Or has she simply got The Courier to follow along with her?" _As she pondered her own question, the thoughts of her mind began to shift to a more prevalent figure in her past, Adam. "_That message I received was definitely from him, the manor in which he wrote, his handwriting, all that confirms it, but has he tried to change, or is it another ploy to get me out in the open?" _Blake thought as she drifted off into sleep.

Her mind led her to long repressed memories of times shared with the man known as Adam Taurus. It specifically went to their first mission together. A faunus village on the continent of Anima was being invaded by grimm, and the stationed White Fang forces weren't enough to repel the onslaught.

"Adam, do you think we'll get there in time?"

"Don't worry, Blake. We'll get to our people soon," Adam said with a reassuring tone as they approached the outskirts of town. The buggy came to a stop, in front of five elite beowolves who were circling a few faunus. Adam leaped towards them, killing two, one after the other with a stab to the head. Blake followed up with Gambol Shroud brandished, she threw the sword, pulling on the rope, drawing it back, killing another beowulf. The remaining two lunged at the faunus, who were cowering in fear.

Adam lunged at the grimm, firing off his sword, the handle of it slamming into the back of one of the grimm. The beowulf turned to face Adam, giving off a horrifying roar, then charging the bull faunus. He slid under belly of it, firing off fire dust rounds at it all the while, ripping through its protected hide.

At the same time, Blake was riding, or rather _trying_ to hold on to her blade which was deeply implanted into the final grimm's back as it tried to buck her off. "Blake! Are you alright?" Adam asked.

"I… can handle… myself!" she insisted as Adam gave an indifferent shrug.

"Well, I would hate to intrude, but it looks like you're struggling a bit. You sure you don't need help?" Adam asked with concern.

"No! I got it!" Blake shouted as she stabbed her sheath into the head of the flailing beowulf. She pulled out the sword, slitting the grimm's throat, only its bony structures remaining. The two of them moved deeper into the town, finding a swarm of nevermore and borbatusks which were attacking the town.

"Blake, I want you to round up the civilians and lead them out of the town while I take care of the grimm, ok?"

"But won't that just draw the grimm to one focused location?" Blake asked as she took a few pot-shots at a few nevermore.

"Yea, then I could take out most if not all of the grimm quickly." Suddenly, a griffon swooped down, snatching up Blake. Adam aimed Wilt and Blush at the grimm, firing a few ice rounds at the wings. He dashed towards the now falling cat faunus, catching her from her fall. "I guess it's true what they say," Adam chuckled.

"And what is that?" Blake asked, crossing her arms with flushed cheeks.

"That a cat faunus always lands on its legs," Adam replied.

Blake scoffed as she leapt out of his arms and back onto the ground, heading towards the faunus settlement. The plan went off without a hitch, and the people were saved. As they were celebrating, Blake looked over to Adam, who had a satisfied smile on his face.

"You know, Blake. This is what the White Fang was always meant to be, an organization for our people. To protect them, assist them, and help them become better than those arrogant humans who look down upon us."

"Adam… why did you join the White Fang?" Blake asked as she looked down on the streets below.

Adam sighed, as he took off his mask, looking at Blake, the full branding over his left eye fully visible. "Because of how humans have hurt our people. But also so that one day I can find the man that's responsible for the death of my family."

"Your family?"

"Yes. My entire family was killed in a house fire. I know it was the mercenaries' doing, but they were hired by someone, and I need to know by who. It was strange, my mother kept receiving these strange letters from someone," Adam explained with a sigh.

"Did you ever find out who they were from?"

"No. But I managed to snag a couple of them from the rubble of the house after the fire. The letters are currently with my personal effects. I intend to find who ever was sending those letters, and make that human pay," Adam said, clenching his fists in anger.

"Adam, you shouldn't be so focused on the past, because if you're always looking behind you, you can't see what's staring you in the face," Blake said as she cupped his clenched fists in her warm, soft hands. Adam's hands loosened as his fingers weaved together with Blake's.

"You know your father would kill me if he ever found out about this…" Adam chuckled as he headed to the edge of town.

"And why would _that_ be?" Blake asked.

"Because being in The Fang is quite dangerous. He would know as the previous leader. Anyways, you're more like an apprentice to me."

AN: not much to say, but I will give you guys and gals a hint for the future Atlas Arc. The letters were significant. Look to Adam's natural eye color. Now for the chapter, in case you all haven't noticed, I'm going for a kind of british occupation of the 13 colonies feel for the Legion occupation of Menagerie, with the massacre at the beginning of the chapter acting as their Boston Massacre.


	4. A King on his Throne

**Just as a heads up there's a lemon at the end**

Adam Taurus

The bull faunus was, for once, the last one to wake up. His companion and trusted partner, Amnia awoke him via a frequent and powerful volley of worried shaking. "Adam? You aren't dead, are you? Oh, god, I don't know how to handle a funeral service!"

"Don't worry, you won't have to attend my funeral any time soon," Adam said as she rose out of bed, stretching a bit with a yawn.

"You know, you're pretty cute when you yawn," Amnia pointed out as she sharpened her blades on a nearby whet stone.

"Whatever you say. Is there anything I need to attend to today?" Adam asked as Brutus walked into his room.

"Yea, Sienna wants to talk to you, and she isn't happy," Brutus said as he began to brush his teeth.

"Brutus, how's your training going with our former White Fang high leader," Adam asked as he finished his morning rituals.

"Not bad. She taught me how to properly use a whip-like weapon, and how to build my own," Brutus replied as he gargled some mouthwash.

"Interesting. Amnia! Come with me, I'm going to speak with Sienna and I'd like to have you by my side when I do," Adam beckoned as the ex-Legion assassin joined him.

"So, I was thinking…" Amnia said as they walked through the halls. "...That we could go out to eat! It would be a great opportunity to relax, and see the city."

"While that does sound like a wonderful idea, I'm unable to do that. As a member, and now high leader of the White Fang, I'll be arrested the second I walk out of this sanctum, so I'm forced to bunker down here," Adam explained as they reached Sienna's cell.

Adam motioned for the three men guarding her door to step aside. They did, and Adam and Amnia entered the room. Sienna was lying on her bed, starting at the door with killing intent.

"What is it, Adam?" Sienna asked with an irritated tone.

"Hey! Don't be so rude to him," Amnia pouted, only for the tiger faunus to wave her off.

"Well Sienna, I heard from Brutus that you wanted to talk with me. So let's hear it," Adam explained, taking a seat on the bed next to her.

"So you're high leader now?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Yup. anything else you want to know?"

"What will _I_ do now that I'm not a leader? Is there any point in keeping me around?"

"You know, Sienna, that's a great question. Like I told you before, at first I was going to kill you. But luckily for you, I found Brutus, Joshua, and Amnia, all three of them teaching me about mercy, which led up to be simply sedating you as opposed to killing you. As for what you could do for our cause, the answer is simple, support Ghira Belladonna when he takes my place."

"Ghira?! But why him, and _how_ will you convince him to take up the mantle of high leader again?" the tiger faunus asked in bewilderment.

"Simple. I'll ask him. I never wanted this position, Sienna. The only reason I've taken up this mantle is because our people have demanded I do so, and so once I achieve my goals, I'll step down and hand the position over to Ghira. Whether or not he accepts it is up to him, but that's the plan."

"What's one thing you wish to achieve under your rein?" Sienna asked.

Adam scoffed, amused by the question. "Well, I wish to create a forth huntsman academy, in Menagerie, for faunus," he replied.

"Really?"

"Yes. I've been doing research on the resources, curriculum, and personnel needed to run such a facility. I intend to become the headmaster once all of this business has blown over," Adam said as he got up from the bed and started to walk to the door.

"I was right about you, Adam Taurus," Sienna said, a mischievous smirk on her face.

He stopped right in front of the door frame. "How so?"

"You were our people's greatest hope, that how!" Sienna replied, a look of excited hysteria on her face.

Amnia and Adam left the room, shutting the door behind them, hearing the hysterical laughter of Sienna Khan. "What else is there to do today?" Amnia asked as she followed by Adam's side.

"Well, you and I will be meeting with Cinder Fall later in the afternoon, and hopefully the Courier."

"You mean Courier Six?" Amnia asked.

"You know him?"

"Yea, he was in the Legion all the way back to when I was. He was a courier for Caesar and he also doubled as a trainer for unarmed combat."

"Really?" Adam replied, a bit surprised.

"Yea, he was a feared member of Caesar's elite advisors," Amnia explained as Joshua joined them.

"What was his position?"

"He was the head of the courier division of the frumentarii," Joshua explained, only to be dealt with a pouty Amnia.

"Joshua! _I _was supposed to tell him that!" Amnia shouted as she hung on to Adam's arm.

"Amnia, don't be so childish," Adam lectured.

"Ok…" Amnia replied, as she shrunk behind him.

"Well, it looks like Courier Six won't be able to make it today."

"Awe! I wanted a rematch with him, oh well," Amnia shrugged as she made her way to the throne room with Adam and Joshua.

The bull faunus took a seat in his throne as his mind shifted off into that of a sleepy haze. He drifted off to a more simple time, when him and Blake were still on speaking terms. Blake and Adam were acting as escorts for a White Fang convoy delivering supplies to the newest branch in Vale. Adam rode in the front escort vehicle while Blake rode in the back escort vehicle, three trucks filled with disguised ammunition and rations from the HQ. The two of them had walkie-talkies to keep in communication.

"Adam! I'm seeing three humans on speeder bikes coming from the rear guard!" Blake alerted her partner as the aforementioned bikers got closer to the rear guard. Adam aimed Blush out of the car window, laying down a blanket of suppressing fire at the pursuers. The three of them veered off in the opposite direction, coming into Blake's range. She threw Gambol Shroud, at one, wrapping around one of the bikers. She yanked on the rope, flinging him off and taking the ride for herself.

"Burn in hell you faunus!" the lead biker shouted as he took out a sawed-off shotgun, aiming it at Blake. She slammed on the brakes, getting behind the bikers as he fired at her. Adam climbed out of the front escort vehicle, hopping onto the roof of the car. He jumped from truck to truck, the bikers firing at him all the while. He deflected the shots with Wilt, the energy building within the blade.

"Blake! On my mark, shoot out the tires of the bikes!" Adam ordered through the walkie-talkie.

"Got it!" Blake got closer to the bikers, and aiming at the tires.

"Three…" Adam tightly gripped Wilt.

"Two…"

"One…"

"Mark!" Adam shouted as Blake blew out of the tires, and the two remaining bikers flew forward, Adam cutting their throats with a singe, wide horizonal slash. The convoy came to a stop to acess the damages.

"Adam, why did you kill them?! They weren't going to kill us!" Blake protested.

"You don't know that, Blake. They looked pretty intent on doing just that. We should go before we're discovered by more humans of their ilk," Adam suggested as he walked back to his vehicle. Blake stood there for a few moments, watching as Adam made small talk with the driver.

Adam was awoken by a sudden shaking and the voice of someone familiar. "Adam! Adam! Your guest is here!" the female survivalist whispered with urgency.

"How long has she been here?" Adam whispered back.

"Well… she arrived just as you fell asleep, but you were so cute while you were sleeping that I didn't wake you up. Sorry, Adam," Amnia apologized.

He playfully ruffled her hair in response. "Its fine, Amnia," he said with a smile, turning to face Cinder.

"Glad to finally speak with you again, Adam," the seductress said.

"As am I. I have a few questions for you," Adam said as he rose from his throne and walked down the steps.

"Ask away," Cinder said.

"Alright. Were you at the Legion's Fort the day of its attack?"

"Yes."

"Were you the one who attacked the Fort?"

"Yes."

"Were you alone when you attacked the Fort?"

"No, I had a companion with me during the attack. He was known as-"

"Courier Six. Joshua here has told me all about him," Adam said, motioning towards his chief advisor.

"That's why you asked to speak with him, right?"

"Correct. So, tell me, Cinder, why _isn't_ he here?" Adam inquired, leaning forward with an eyebrow raised.

"He's currently taking a huntsman licensing exam," Cinder answered.

"I see. So when _will_ he be able to speak with me?"

Cinder scoffed, covering her mouth as she snickered. "You won't try to take him from me? He's become someone _very_ important to me."

"You or your plans?"

"Me."

"So you've gotten… romantically involved?" Adam asked, as Amnia began to blush and turn away, in embarrassment.

"That's one way of putting it. But I digress, why is it that you called me here?"

Adam rubbed his chin in thought before responding. "Because, I need your funding to help… modernize my men. We can't be taken seriously on the world stage if we're set back technologically."

"I'm afraid ever since I've dropped support from Salem, I've lost such resources. However, if its any consolation, Six might be able to help you in such an endeavor," Cinder replied.

"Is he truly that intelligent? And would he even consider helping me and my people?" Adam inquired.

"He's an empathetic man. He did save my life after all," Cinder pointed out.

"And if he saved you…" Adam quipped, receiving a glare with killing intent.

"Anyways, he'll be available tomorrow, so in case you want to talk with him in person, just shoot me a text," Cinder said, walking out of the base. The second the doors were shut, Amnia took Adam by the hand and lead him strait to their room, locking the door behind them.

"Amnia, what are y-" Adam asked as Amnia wrapped her arms around his head, their lips clenched together. Their tongues swirled together as their eyes slowly closed, and they began to sway in sync with each other.

Adam was panting when their lips finally parted. "I… I…" Adam said, unable to think clearly.

Amnia gently pressed her index finger over his lips. She wrapped her arms around Adam's torso, flirtaciously nibbling on his ear. "I can't hold back any longer, my lovely Adam. Tonight, we make love," she whispered into his ear.

Adam could feel the hot, arousing breaths of Amnia on his ear. Her pale skin was starting to sweat and her silky black hair looked especially beautiful that evening.

She practically ripped off his clothes as she climbed on top of him. "Do _you_ want to take _my_ clothes off, or would it be better if _I_ took it off?" Amnia asked with a deviously lecherous smirk on her face.

"I'll give you some time to relax," Adam replied as he reached for her back, unhooking her bra. He slowly kissed her on the neck as his hands slowly snaked their way under her breasts. He began to slowly and sensually squeeze her breasts, Amnia giving off erotic, and high pitched moans.

She began to cuddle up close with him as he continued to grope his sexy companion. Amnia draped the covers over the two of them as Adam moved up to the nipples, rubbing them so fast that the ex-legion assassin buried her head in his chest as she continuously moaned in pleasure. "Aaaaadddddaaaammmm!" she moaned as he moved one of his hands down to her nether regions, fingering her through her panties. Amnia snuck one if _her_ hands into Adam's boxers and slowly stroking his semi-erect cock.

"You know, I don't think your underwear can hold you dick when it's fully erect," Amnia whispered into his ear as she increased to speed of the stroking. She guided Adam's hand under her panties as the bull faunus' fingers began to play around in her clitoris. "Hnnnn!" she moaned as the fingering ans groping became in-sync, fulfilling her sexual desire.

"Do you like that, Amnia?" Adam asked as she began to reach the presipice of her pleasure, her hitched breaths and erotic moaning giving him the hint. He quickly removed both his and her underwear, throwing it out of the bed and swiftly inserting his cock into Amnia's entrance.

"Ah!" she squeaked as he began to gyrate his hips, the solid rod pounding her insides as she rode his cock-coaster. "D-don't s-stop!" She pleaded, to request being granted as Adam flipped on her, Adam now being the top of the sexual encounter. He quickly plunged the entirety of his cock into her, Amnia leg-locking around his waist, not wanting him to pull out. "G-g-give me a child!" she moaned as Adam continued to pound into her, tightly wrapping his arms around her body, locking lips with her. His tongue wrapped around her's as he released his entire load into Amnia's womb. Her entire pussy was filled to the brim with the bull-faunus' seed.

"Does that feel good?" Adam asked as their lips parted for the second time that night.

"Mmmm, yessss," Amnia replied as her tongue hung out of her mouth and her eyes were starting to roll into the back of her head in pleasure. "H-honey you're st-still erect," she moaned as Adam began gyrating his pelvis, arousing the buxom beauty once more.

"Well, faunus _do_ tend to have more natural stamina than humans," he whispered into her ear before slamming his rod into her once more. Her leg-lock began to loosen up the more thrusts he gave to her. Cum began to spill out of her pussy as it began to overflow with the seed that Adam was planting.

He pulled her up to him so that they could kiss for the thrid time, this one lasting for five minutes strait. The kiss was loving as Amnia tried her hardest to hang onto Adam as he continued to ravaged her pussy.

"D-d-don't stop until y-y-you're empty," Amnia moaned as Adam did just that, pouring the last of his seed deep into her soil. He gently held the back of her head as she fell asleep in his arms. "Mmmm, you're so warm, Adam. That's why I love you. I can always rely on you to be a person who I can rely on to be by safe haven, my protector," she explained as she cuddled up to Adam as they both fell asleep in the nude together.

He rubbed her back as she hummed in pleasure in her sleep, resting her head on his shoulders. "_She's awfully cute. She'd make for a great wife,"_ Adam thought as he fell asleep with Amnia in his arms.


	5. Colliding Forces

Cinder Fall

It began to rain as the pyromancer made her way back to the house, when a cloaked female collided with her. "Are you ok, maam?" Cinder asked as she lended the woman a hand.

"I-is that you, Cinder?" the woman looked up, her ebony skin glowing under a streetlight.

"Sister Sestrus? Is that you?" Cinder asked. The two of them came together in a tight embrace.

"You have to help me! The Church of the Savior has been receiving more militant members for the past few days, and they're coming for me!" Cinder's mentor explained.

"Alright, come with me," Cinder replied as she led her to the house. Just as she rounded the corner, the pyromancer noticed two men in heavy metal armor walking in their direction with a man in a red cloak. "Why are they after you?" Cinder asked.

"I was doing my duties one day, and I stumbled into the holy archives," Sestrus answered.

"Just stumbled in, huh?" Cinder quipped.

"It wasn't on purpose! The door was unlocked and I was curious, so I just walked in. I didn't realize that there were cameras in there," the sister said, looking up at Cinder with her glowing purple eyes. They ducked into an alleyway, just avoiding the incoming patrol.

"We can make our way back to the house through here," Cinder said, leading her mentor through the series of passages. Within a matter of minutes, they had arrived at the house and slipped in through the back door. Cinder quickly locked all the doors and shut the blinds. "Six, I'm home!"

There was no response. Cinder called again, and again she was given no response. "Maybe this guy isn't home," Sestrus suggested.

"No. He would have sent me a message through my scroll is he was gonna be home late."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to be around you anymore?"

"No, we've been quite intimate, on multiple occasions."

"What's this?" Sister Sestrus asked as she picked up Six's weapon, Ionized Flame.

"His weapon! He would've _never_ left his weapon behind. He's been kidnapped!" Cinder declared.

"But who would have taken him?"

"Qrow Branwen. He saw me when he was helping Six bring home parts to build his weapon. But he wouldn't have been able to do it alone. My guess is that some of the kids that were with him helped him out too," Cinder explained.

"But _where_ did they take him?" Sestrus asked.

"That's a good question," the pyromancer said as she rubbed her chin in thought.

"Is that blood on the door frame?"

"It is. It's possible that he cut himself purposefully so that we could follow the blood trail. But we can't go out looking like this," Cinder said as she created two masks with her maiden powers for the two of them. Next, she threw Sestrus a black cowl and cloak, which she put on.

"Cinder. How did you find this guy, and is he really worth saving?" Sestrus asked as the flame welding seductress walked towards the door. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face her.

"He saved my life, helped me to survive in his world, and then took me under his wing. He's done more for me than Salem and the church ever have. I can't let them kidnap him and get away with it. Its possible they're interrogating him, and I can't let him go through that pain," Cinder proclaimed.

Sestrus smiled as she joined Cinder. "You really have grown since we last met."

"Yea, but that was only three years ago," Cinder pointed out as they followed the now diluted blood trail to Six's whereabouts. They eventually made their way to The Grand Staircase, climbing up to the second level. The water was turning a light tint of red as it mixed with the Courier's blood. Just as they reached the neighborhood where Six was being held, Cinder heard two familiar voices. Sestrus and Cinder hid behind a wall as she eavesdropped on them.

"Ruby, what is it you wanted to talk about?" the youngest daughter of the Schnee family asked.

"Its this guy that Yang, Jaune, and Qrow brought back. What if he's not associated with Cinder and we've been torturing an innocent man?" the silver-eyed huntress asked.

"But what if he _is_? If he has information on her, then we can use that to stop this Salem person!"

"But are you ok about the way they're getting that information, Weiss?" Ruby prodded. "I've been hearing him scream for two strait hours! I can't stand it any longer, we have to do something!" Cinder's fists began to clench in anger as she continued to listen.

"Even _if_ we could over power your uncle, your sister, and Jaune, what then? You'll be fighting against your family, and one of your teammates no less, you need to think this through. I don't like what they're doing either, and I want it to stop," Weiss said as she looked into Ruby's eyes. Just then, Ren and Nora joined the two girls outside.

"Hey, Ruby… we were thinking about what Jaune has been doing to that man. If you want to, we'll stand with you," Nora said.

"Thanks," Ruby replied with a smile.

"They're not wrong," Cinder said as she walked out of cover to face Ruby and co. She took off the mask to confront them head on.

"Cinder," Ruby said with malice.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing?!" Sestrus hissed under her breath.

"Hear me out," Cinder said, holding her hands up in defeat. "You may not believe me, but I've had some time to think about what I've done, and I'm ashamed of my past actions," Cinder explained.

"And why should we believe a single word you say?" Weiss asked as she aimed Myrtenaster at the pyromancer.

"Because _I_ have something you desperately need. I'm assuming you and your friends are going to try and defeat Salem, and in such an endeavor information is essential. I happen to have such information. Names, plans, and an entirely secretive organization that has hands in every government across Remnant. I could tell you all these things, but for a cost."

"Why should we trust you?" Ruby asked as she loaded Crescent Rose.

"Because I came back for _him_. He's a kind soul that I can't bear to see in pain, now let him go!" Cinder demanded.

"But Pyrrha's still dead, and so is Penny! You're a killer and a monster! I can't let you pass," Ruby said with a serious expression on her face.

Cinder collapsed to the muddy ground, burying her head in the mud as tears began to well up under her eyes. "Please Ruby, he's my lover! My friend! My companion! I can't stand to see him in pain! I-I don't know what I'd do with myself if he died when _I _could've done something! I'm so sorry for what I've done! Kill me if you want, but please save him!" Cinder pleaded, the tears now pouring down her cheeks as she began to cry.

"How involved was he?" Ruby asked with stone-cold look on her face.

"What?" Cinder asked as she looked up from the ground.

"How involved with your plans was he?" Ruby asked again.

"Not at all. I've only met him a few months ago, so he wasn't involved in _anything_ that happened in Vale," Cinder explained.

"Alright, come with us, but if you attack us, the rescue is off. Do you understand?" Ruby asked, extending a hand to Cinder as Sister Sestrus popped out of cover.

Cinder took it. "You won't regret this decision, Ruby Rose," Cinder said with a warm smile on her face.

"I hope so," Ruby said as she lead the team of six through the house. They reached the door, screams emanating from the other side as the sound of electricity crackling could be heard.

"Jaune! Release him now!" Ruby ordered as she aimed Crescent Rose at the lock-mechanism.

"Ruby! We're doing what we need to, don't you understand?!" Jaune shot back.

Suddenly the sound of a window being broken was heard from the other side of the door. "Who the hell are you?!" Qrow shouted as an unfamiliar female voice was heard.

"How _dare_ you hurt him! _I'm_ the only one who's supposed to do that!" the voice shrieked.

Ruby pulled the trigger, blasting the door open, seeing a woman in her mid-twenties wielding two swords fighting against Jaune and Qrow, while Neo kept Yang busy.

She took aim at the unknown woman, only to be wrapped up in metal chains along with Weiss. "Cinder? What are you doing with _them_?" Emerald interrogated as she kept the two young huntresses restrained.

"Emerald, I'm back, so join me," Cinder offered, only to have the two restrained girls slammed into her sides.

"Well, well, well. Look at the old master trying to get back her freed slaves," Mercury quipped as he joined Emerald. Nora and Ren dashed to their rooms to retrieve their weapons, only to be blocked by two men in heavy metal suits and unknown weapons aimed at them. Lastly, a man in a tan trenchcoat and captain's hat walked in through the front door as he pulled out a pistol from its holster.

"You all will stay where you are as the Lone Wanderer completes her mission!" the man explained as he walked up to Sestrus.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Colonel Autumn, if you _must_ know. I do believe we've just found our runaway," he said, aiming the pistol at Sestrus' head.

"No!" Cinder shouted as she formed some small knives in her hand, throwing them at the Colonel. Three of the knives landed a hit on his torso, Autumn aiming his pistol at Cinder and firing in retort.

Cinder activated the serrated claws as she closed the distance between her and the Enclave officer, pinning him to the ground and wrestling the gun out of his hands. He punched her in the face, only for her to slash him in the gut. Then she activated the gun attachment and aimed it at the soldiers, only for a shot from Mercury's boot gun to go by her face.

"That's enough, Cinder. Salem isn't very happy about the lack on communication with her. And guess what? You're on her kill list." Cinder rolled out of the way, avoiding another shot. She changed the weapon to the flamer, firing off a burst of fire in Mercury's face.

He screamed in pain as Cinder rushed back to Ruby and Weiss, melting the chains as Sestrus engaged Emerald in hand-to-hand combat. "Come on, we need to free Amatus, he can help us in this fight!" the pyromancer said as she led the two girls into the dark, dingy room.

The smell of burnt flesh and blood stank up the space as a now disheveled and tired Courier was strapped into a wooden chair. Cinder rushed over to him, freeing him from the restrains. "C-c-cinder, is that you?" he asked softly.

"Yes, I'm here for you, honey," Cinder said as Amatus fell into her arms, all of his energy was sapped from his body. She brushed away the hair that obscured his face. "_He looks so broken, like a soulless man,"_ Cinder thought as she gained the attention to Jaune.

"You! You're dead!" Jaune shouted as she disengaged the Lone Wanderer and charged strait at Cinder, who was helping him to drink some water.

Ruby jumped in front of her, blocking Crocea Mors with Crescent Rose. "Jaune, you have to stop," Ruby said.

"So you're defending _her_ now? You're dead to me," he said with the look of a killer on his face.

"Jaune… you're starting to scare me," Ruby said as she began to back away.

"You're acting like a child, stop this at once!" Weiss demanded.

"Never!" Jaune shouted as he lunged at Cinder, only for Six to push her on the ground as he shielded her from the blow, resulting in the blade piercing through his torso, blood pouring out of the wound.

"Nooooooo!" Cinder shouted as she tried in vain to stop the bleeding. Lone stopped fighting to look over at Six, her face contorted into pure rage as she knocked out Qrow and rushed Jaune.

"You little shit! You're a dead man!" she howled as she stabbed him through the arms.

Weiss shot a fireball, knocking Lone off of Jaune. "Run!" she shouted as he went to retrieve his blade, looking down to see Cinder desperately clutching the dying Courier. Jaune's heart began to race as his mind moved to the last time he say Pyrrha, remembering that kiss, then being locked inside a locker. "I'm sorry Pyrrha," Jaune whispered to himself.

By this time the adrenaline was coursing through his veins as he pulled out the swords that were stabbed through his arms. "Put pressure on the wound," Jaune ordered as Cinder obeyed his command.

She watched as the boy who was just trying to kill her a few moments ago was now healing her lover. "I'm not doing this for you, bitch," he spat as Six's wounds were closed.

In the meantime, Yang was dealing with Neapolitan as the mute killer sent a storm of stabs her way. Yang parried, then sent a powerful punch into Neo's chest, knocking the air out of her lungs, following up with a solid blow to her head. "You aren't going to best me a second time," Yang said.

Neo looked up to see the girl that killed Roman, Ruby Rose. She slid out from Yang's grasp and rushed towards the girl with her piercing weapon aimed straight at her head. "Ruby, watch out!" Yang shouted.

Cinder looked in Neo's direction, forming an obsidian sword and rushing to intercept the multi-colored killer, countering her blow. Cinder followed up with a kick to the throat, pinning Neo to the ground.

"You… saved me," Ruby said, awestruck.

"We're fighting a common enemy now, so that's to be expected," Cinder explained.

"Damnit! We're losing," Lone said as she threw a flashbang, blinding and deafening everyone in the room and running off with an unconscious Neo in her arms. "Emerald, Mercury, Autumn! We're leaving!" she shouted as all five of them made an escape along with the Enclave soldiers.

Qrow began to wake up, seeing the damage that was wrought. He scanned the room, seeing Cinder and Six free from his restraints. He pulled out his weapon, aiming both barrels of it at the pyromancer. "What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"To rescue my partner," she replied

"Why didn't you leave with your lackies?"

"Because I'm apparently on Salem's kill list," Cinder shot back.

"So what does that mean to _me_?"

"Well, at the very least, we aren't enemies," the pyromancer said as she walked over to Six, gently helping him to his feet.

"So Salem wouldn't care if I killed you here and now?" Qrow asked.

"You _could_ do that, but if you did you won't have _any_ of the information that I have."

He lowered his weapon and sighed. "What do we have to do to get this information?"

"Two things: one, don't kill me, and two, don't kill Six. Simple as that."

"Cinder…" Six said, everyone turning to look at him in his broken form. "Thank you," he said, as Yang approached the two of them.

"And what do _you_ want from us?" she asked, pointing at Six.

"Only to help," he responded in his dry, raspy voice. Cinder led him downstairs to the kitchen just as Oscar walked through the front door with many ingredients in hand.

"What happened here?" he asked as he set the food on the counter in the kitchen.

"It's a lot to explain," Nora said with a nervous laugh.

"Wait a minute, you're…" the young farmhand said, pointing at Cinder.

"With us now, so calm down," Qrow finished his sentence.

Ozpin took over his body and charged at Cinder with his cane. However, when he lunged forward at her, Six intercepted to blow, tightly holding onto it. "Enough fighting… for today," he said weakly. Oscar regained control over his body as Oz subsided.

Ruby awekwardly walked up to Six with shy expression. "Would you two like… to have dinner with us?" she blurted out.

"Well, Amatus, it's your choice," Cinder said, looking up at him.

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't feel safe sitting down to have dinner with my captors. I hope you can understand," he replied, mustering up a smile.

"Oh, well have a nice evening," Ruby waved goodbye. Cinder and Sestrus flipped up their hoods and walked out the door. The second the three of them were outside, they heard the shouting voices of Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee.

"What on Remnant were you thinking?!" Weiss screamed with rage. "As far as we know, he could be a powerful ally, and you rock-headed bolts screwed it up!"

"You all need to think about what you've done!" Ruby joined in.

Cinder chuckled as they headed back to their house. "What do you think about them?" Cinder asked.

"The three who tortured me, not very well. Of the four who were with you, I'd like to work with them. All I want is your lovely meat stew and a good night's sleep.

The Lone Wanderer

A few hours earlier. Lone walked into Little Miss Malachite's tavern and sat down across the table from her. "Ah, another customer. What is it you need to know?" Little Miss Malachite asked as she fanned herself.

"I need a good fighter to join me and my team," Lone answered. "Just name your price," she said, sliding her a blank check.

"Oh, I like a lady knows what she wants. So what type of fighter are we talking? Someone with muscle, or a leaner build?"

"Whoever you can get in here the quickest."

"I think I have just the person you're looking for. Neo dear! I think I found you your next partnership!"

From out of the back room came a young woman who was wearing a bowler hat and carrying an elegant umbrella, slowly staggering towards the Wanderer. Neo looked up drunkenly at Lone with a high pitched hiccup.

"So little one, what do you think about joining me?" Lone asked with a smile on her face.

Neo rolled her eyes and gave a shrug. "Just so you know, she's mute. But even worse, she's been draining my liquor stores ever since she got here! I'll be generous and have my service cost be equal to her bar tab."

"Sounds good to me, have a nice day, Little Miss Malachite!" Lone waved as she picked up Neo and carried her back in her arms. "Damn you stink! First thing we do when we get home is take a bath." Neo gave a drunken smile as she cuddled up to Lone.

AN: so, I hope you all liked the chapter! There are a few things I need to clear up. First, not everyone on Ozpin's side is pleased with the newly made alliance with Cinder. Jaune, Qrow, Yang, and Ozpin are the skeptical ones, while Ruby saw Cinder's venerability and kinda pities her. Weiss is with Ruby, as is Nora and Ren. While this may seem unrealistic, I tried to make it as believable as possible. However, that ain't the worst to come, just be ready for the arc after the Battle for Menegerie, cause A LOT of drama will be heading down between charecters.


	6. A Burden Now Removed

A Blake Belladonna

The smell of Menegerie burning wafed into Blake's room as she looked out her window to see flames engulfing the houses around them. Kali bursted into her room with a look of despiration on her face. "Blake! We have to go! Your father is holding the front with some White Fang agents. Reinforcements are coming, but we need to get you to safety."

"No, mom! I need to help my people. I have something that might be able to help them win this war," Blake said as she took out the energy weapon she had been working on and carried them outside, where a group of civilians were gathered. Blake started handing out the small arms to the civilians as she kept the rifles for the trained personel. "If the Legion come at you, use those!" she shouted as she ran off to the frontline.

She looked down the hill, seeing the faunus front being decimated by the Legion assault. Suddenly, the sky turned black as a red, glowing figure bursted through their ranks. "_Adam…"_ Blake thought as she encountered a group of centurions.

"Oh, a weapons shippment? I think we'll have to discpline this girl ourselves!" the head of them declared. "By the way, _girl_, my name is Aurelius of Pheonix!" he shouted as he took out of curved gladius and swung it at Blake. She used her semblance to evade the attack. The remaining two centurions pulled out a thermic lance, lunging at Blake, who used her semblance acompnied with some ice dust to freeze barrel of the lances in place. Aurelius and his gaurds circled her, barring their machetes as all three of them convering on her back, only to be blocked by Gambol Shroud's sheath as she ducked to avoid the blow. She took out her black sword, slicing off the two gaurd's hands as she turned to face Aurelius, her night-black blade facing off against his.

"Let me pass, and I'll let you live," Blake said as she aimed Gambol Shroud at Aurelius.

"Both you and I know I won't do that, so lets get this over with," Aurelius said as he spun his gladius in front of him, trying to land a hit on Blake. She ducked and evaded, remaining on the defensive as she tried to devise a strategy against his advance.

"_I need to find a weakness in his attack pattern,"_ the cat faunus thought as she slid to the side, just barrley avoiding a powerful downwards slash, cutting off a few locks of her hair. She parried another attack, lunging towards his exposed pancreas, piercing his metal armor and cutting open the bacterial sac, cutting the Centurion's life down to at most thirty minutes.

He launched some throwing knives at her, hopping to get some cheap shots on her. She evaded all but two, one striking her in the left knee, and the other in Blake's collar bone. Aurelius was wrapped in a familiar metal whip, electricity coursing through the centurion as he eventually fell to the ground, uncoincious.

"Blake, are you alright?!" Ilia asked as she approached her friend.

"He got me with some throwing knives," Blake answered, pointin to her wounds. Ilia tended to Blake's wounds.

"Blake," a familiar male voice said, getting her attention.

"Adam…" Blake replied as she glared at him.

"Its been a while since we've last seen each other, and I've done some thinking. What I did back in our time together in the White Fang was wrong, and I want to say, I'm sorry."

Blake looked in his eyes, seeing a differant Adam, a semi-innocent aura around him. In the past, she always had a small uneasy feeling when she was around him, but this time, there was nothing. Blake noticed a human woman catching up to Adam. "You're… working with a human?" Blake asked.

"Yes. During my time in another world, I gained a new, more enlightening perspective. A perspective that… challanged _all_ of my values," Adam explained as he kneeled down, inspeciting Blake's wounds along with a hesitant Ilia.

"W-what are you doing to her?!" Ilia questioned as Adam took out an unknown liquid and poured it onto Blake's puncture wounds.

"I'm treating the poision that's no doubt coursing through her veins. The Legion higher-ups have poisioned weapons. This is the antidote that I learned how to make," Adam answered as he finished up the treatment.

"Adam… were you in the Mojave Wasteland?" Blake asked, Adam freezing in place after hearing the question.

"So you've seen its horrors too?" Blake nodded silently.

"As have I!" Ilia insisted.

"But how did you know how to make the antidote? Unless…"

Adam sighed as he bandaged up Blake's injuries. "Yes. I was forced to fight for them, untill a man known as Courier Six and Cinder Fall burned down their main encampment, giving me an opportunity to escape."

"So you've seen them too," Ilia said.

"Yes and no. I saw them, but didn't get the chance to speak with them. However, I _have_ spoken with Cinder."

"Really? What did she say?"

"The Courier is with her, and that he'd like to speak with me. Once I return to Mistral, I'll do just that. What about you, Blake?"

"I'm going to meet up with my team from Beacon Academy. I got a message from Ruby that Mistral was where they'd be going. I got another message detailing their address from her a few months after the first."

"I'll come with you! Mistral is a dangerous place, especially on the lower levels," Ilia interjected as the three of them quickly carried the plasma weaponry to the frontlines.

"Hello! I'm Amnia, Adam's personal guard, nice to meet you!" the human said as she too helped carry the weapons.

"Nice to meet you, Amnia. How did you meet Adam?" Ilia asked.

"He saved my life, because had he not been there I would've had a fatal fall," Amnia explained.

"Just after you were treatnening Brutus and I," Adam quipped.

"Who's Brutus?" Blake asked.

"A human child I took under my wing. He's currently being trained by Sienna Khan," the bull faunus answered. They eventually reached their people, arming them and quickly winning the battle. As the city began to calm down, Blake walked up to Adam, who was speaking with her parents.

"Adam… I don't know what to say," Ghira replied, nearly speechless.

"Don't rush in making your discension, think on it, and once you have an answer, send me a message."

"Dad, what's going on?" Blake asked.

"Well… Blake… I'm going to become the head of the White Fang. Adam said he wanted to be free of the position of High Leader and would volentarily give it up to me," Ghira explained.

"My only request, is that you don't let Sienna gain control again. If history repeats itself, then someone as voilent as me will take power in _her_ place," Adam warned.

"I'll take it under advisement," Ghira said, as he walked off.

"So what now?" Adam asked, facing Blake, his mask still hiding his face.

Blake thought on his question, a smile slowly growing on her face as an answer began to form in her head. "You should come with Ilia and I. We could use someone with your skill, however…"

"What?"

"You'll be in hostile territory when you meet team RWBY. You cut off my partner's arm, and another member who's the youngest girl of the Schnee family," the cat faunus said.

"A. Schnee?!" Adam bellowed, his rage boiling to the surface.

"She isn't like her father! She's doing her best to change, so you _can't_ go after her," Blake shot back.

"Fine, but if any of them comes at me, I'm defending myself."

"Adam! The boat's leaving!" Amnia called to him as Blake, Ilia, and Adam boared the sea-faring vessel. Blake waved goodbye to her father and mother.

"_Its good see Adam's truly changed. I wonder how Yang's doing?"_ Blake thought as a powerful seabreeze hit her in the face, lifting her long, black hair into the air. She looked over to Adam, who was looking out at the vast ocean. She walked over to him, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder, suprising the ex-White Fang member.

"Blake?" he asked looking over his shoulder.

"Adam. I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"What happened in the Mojave? Something changed you, and I want to know what it was," Blake asked.

Adam stiftened as Amnia approached the two of them, her presence unknown to both Blake and Adam. "I-i…" Adam stammered, unable to answer her querry.

"Its ok, you can tell me. I won't judge you," Blake reassured him.

"Brutus… wasn't an orphan. He had a mother. She was so much like mine, Blake. She cared for him so much. During the siege on the Legion fort, she was killed. She was on fire, and begged me to let her die!"

"But why would she ask you to do that?" Blake asked, noticing Adam slightly leaning over the gaurd-rail.

"I- Argh!" Adam choked out as he tried to cover his mouth with his hands as bile and vomit poured out of his mouth.

"Adam? Was it really that bad? What did you do?" she questioned.

"I-i didn't want to do it. But Brutus, his mother, and I would've been killed otherwise!" Adam shouted.

"Adam, please! I can't trust you if you can't trust me, so _please_ just tell me!" Blake shouted back.

"Adam… what did you do to her?" Amnia asked, a worried look in her eyes.

"Amnia, you wouldn't love me anymore if I told you!"

"Adam! Tell me what you d-"

"I raped her!" he shouted, silencing the two girls. "There was a litteral gun to my head and I didn't want to die! I didn't want to do it, but Brutus would've died too had I not accepted Vulpes' order," Adam explained.

"Wait, Vulpes? Like the Vulpes that was leading the Legion forces in Menegerie?"

"Yes. I killed him during the battle. What he made me do… It was… disgusting. I… don't deserve to live," Adam said, hanging his head low with shame.

Blake watched as Amnia gave him a tight hug from behind, trying and failing to cheer him up. "You didn't _want_ to! You've treated me so well, and with so much care!"

"Adam… I don't know what to say…"

"I won't blame you if you can never forgive me…"

Suddenly, a kraken gimm emerged from the sea, latching onto the ship. Amnia took out her galdii, readying for battle, just as Ilia joined up with Blake as they too took out their weapons, firing shock rounds at the grimm. A tendrill wrapped around Adam, pulling him towards its mouth.

"Adam! You need to fight!" Blake shouted as she began to fight off some tendrils.

"No, Blake. I deserve this… I should just… die."

"Nooooo!" Amnia shouted as she ran up another tendril towards Adam, slashing the tentacles along the way. "You mater to _me_, so stay alive so _I_ can love you, damnit!" Amnia shouted as she reached Adam.

Adam looked up, towards his knight in shining armor. "You really still love me, after all I've done?"

"Yes! Now grow some balls and fight!" she shouted as Adam began to clench his fists. Then, he streched out his arms, giving him enough room to take out Wilt and Blush, dicing up the tentacle that was holding him. The two of them backed up to each other as they fought off more and more tendrils. They continued to hack and slash as they joined Blake and Ilia back onto the ship.

"How are we gonna kill this thing?" Adam asked.

"We need to cut off its head. That should do enough damage to kill it," Blake answered. The kraken began to charge up an attack, aiming it at the ship. Adam moved to intercept the beam of energy, absorbing it with his sword, the blade glowing with energy.

"Cover me, I'm going in for the killing blow!" Adam shouted as he rushed forward. Mutiple feelers slammed into the deck of the ship, trying to kill Adam, and the others. He took aim and released the wave of electricity, only for it to be knocked away harmlessly as he was slammed through the deck. Blake took out Gambol Shroud, cutting through another anteana. Then the kraken shot out a smokescreen, obsuring the three girls' vision. Blake watched as Ilia was flung unto a crate, a could metal shells falling out of it.

"Ilia! Take those cases and shoot them at the grimm!" Blake commanded as Ilia gave a nod as she put her semblance to use, launching them at the massive creature of grimm. The first canister slammed into the head of the kraken, its slimey grip on the ship loosening. It began to charge up another beam attack, which Adam once more absorbed, this time landing the killing blow.

"Are you feeling better now?" Amnia asked as she hugged Adam.

"Yea, thanks," Adam replied as he hugged her back.

Blake and Ilia took to a bedroom where they cuddled up, and went to sleep.

AN: When I wanted to cover what Vulpes made Adam do, I wanted to show how much Adam hated what he was forced to do by making him physically ill and puking before being able to admit to it. I made Amnia into a guiding light for Adam, giving him the wholesome love he so deperately needs.


	7. Rallying Cry

Adam Taurus

The bull faunus felt the naked breasts of his lover rub up against his bare chest as the two of them got closer to each other to cuddle. He locked lips with her, their tongues wrapping around eachother's as slim beams of light illuminated the bedroom. Amnia got even closer, her sizable bust now pressing up against Adam as he kept her in soft and gentle embrace.

"A-Adam, can you please cuddle with me some more?" Amnia asked as she began to blush from speaking those words.

"Of course, honey," Adam said as he began to rub his fingers against her nipples. She replied with an aroused moan, clutched onto Adam even tighter than before. "You know, Amnia, you're quite cute when you want to cuddle," he whispered in her ear. She perked up, kissing Adam on the lips once more, this time with even more passion than before. She felt a bulge in his boxers, and started to rub it, getting a surprise response from Adam.

"I want you inside me, _again_," Amnia whispered as their lips parted.

"Certainly." Adam pulled off his boxers, grabbing Amnia by the waist, lifted her directly above his erect rod. She begged his to release her, and he gave way, dropping onto his pulsing spear. Amnia started to gyrate her hips, causing Adam to moan in pleasure.

She leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek, quickly flipping him on top. This allowed her to lock her legs around Adam's waist as he pounded her relentlessly. "Adam!" she begged. "Take off that blindfold, and let me see your eyes!" she moaned as the bull faunus' load was filling her womb. Her legs loosened up and Adam pulled out, the two of them putting on their underwear.

Adam took off his blindfold, revealing the SDC branding on his left eye. Amnia gave a shocked look as tears began to fall from her face. She gently clutched Adam's cheeks in her hands. "Who did this to you, my dear?" she asked, fighting back tears.

"Jacque Schnee. It's why I hide my face to begin with," Adam explained as he sat up from the bed, wrapping his arm around Amnia's shoulders. She buried herself in his chest as the two of them shared in powerful, silent embrace.

Then without any previous warning, Yuma barged into the room. "High Leader! Our home of Menagerie is under attack!" he shouted, his wings frantically flapping.

"Is that so? Then mobilize the White Fang forces. Load up the transports for mass troop transportation." Adam ordered as he bundled up Amnia in the blankets as he gathered up his equipment.

"I'm coming with!" Amnia proclaimed as she got up from the bed and gathered up her things, quickly putting on her breastplate and the rest of her armor. "This is surprisingly comfortable, all things considered," Amnia said as she equipped her knee and elbow pads, then grabbing a newly constructed weapon. It was an 1887 lever action shotgun with dual beyonetes.

"I had that made specifically to suit your fighting style, along with some more powerful upgrades," Adam explained as the blades of the beyonetes began to glow blue. "Now let's go!" he commanded as Amnia followed him out, assisting Yuma with loading the cargo.

"High Leader, why are we taking all of this extra weaponry? Our troops are already well-armed," Yuma asked.

"Because you'll be fighting against the Legion, and if they excell anywhere, it's on the battlefield," Joshua said as he walked out of the corridor with his favorite pistols in hand. "Sienna and I, along with some of the elite guard, will be holding down the fort here, in case its besieged. Best of luck on your mission, Adam," Joshua said, waving goodbye. Sienna joined him, shyly holding on to the ex-legate's arm as she joined him in seeing the troops off.

"Adam…" Sienna said just loud enough for Adam to hear her.

"Yes, Sienna?"

"Thanks for letting me out of my room…"

"No problem. It was never my plan to keep you in there forever. Anyways, Brutus needs you and I can't have you cooped up in there for all hours of the day. You know, you and Joshua look kinda cute together," Adam teased as he boarded the aircraft.

"Adam! You're going to get it when you come back!" Sienna shouted as she began to blush to the shade of a ripe tomato. A pack of transport ships followed Adam's as they headed off to Menagerie.

Adam picked up his scroll, which was linked to all the speakers on the other transports. "Alright men! Once we have a visual on the Legion forces, we'll be dropping right on top of them. So when you have a visual, open fire. Squads one through four will be dropping at the frontlines to reinforce the civilian combatants with Yuma, while squads five through ten will be dropping _behind_ enemy lines with Amnia and I. We will be arriving at our objective in six hours, so get some rest." Adam said over speakers before sitting down next to Amnia. She rested her head in Adam's lap as her mouth nug open and a trail of saliva dripped out of her mouth.

"_She's so cute when she's sleeping,"_ Adam though as he rustled her hair, Amnia nuzzling up against him. The rest of their flight was normal aside from the occasional turbulence. When they arrived at the drop point, fifty paratroopers jumped out of the transports as the rearline transports were hammered with flak. Adam got up and opened the doors of the assault transport to see one to their right falling to the ground, crushing dozens of Legion troops. Amnia got up from her cozy position and rubbed her eyes with a yawn.

"Are we going already?" Amnia asked, tightening the sling on her lever action shotgun.

"Yea, we're dropping early," Adam answered as he jumped down from the craft, pulling out his parachute as he fired into the hoard of the Legion forces. Amnia followed close behind, firing into pockets of lightly armored soldiers.

"Do we have more of a plan other than 'defeat the enemy'?" Amnia asked as she reloaded her new weapon.

"Yes. we're going to kill all of the commanders so that their organization is scattered. If you see Vulpes and can get away, find me. He's my kill!" Adam explained. As they hit the ground, followed by the more skilled White Fang soldiers. "Follow me, and fight for your life!" Adam shouted as he charged forward, slashing the throat of three Legionaries in front of him. Adam's personal squad moved into an arrowhead formation, slicing right through the rear guard of the Legion forces. They reached the command tents, as Adam ordered the squad to burn them all down.

"Adam, behind you!" Amnia shouted as she blocked an incoming blow from a large, burly, muscular, brute of a man wielding a battle axe. The duel beyonete's blade began to glow blue as the battle axe began to freeze over, making it more fragile. Adam rushed the man while Amnia held him back, he sliced through the weapon, landing a hit on the brute's belly, blood gushing from its wound.

"You fucking whore!" he shouted as he took the blade of the battle axe and threw it at Amnia, who glanced off the blow by using her galdii, which promptly broke. She then pulled out her 1887 once more, slashing into the heavy enemy's skin, the wound being sealed by the ice-forming blades as ice invaded his very bloodstream, blocking the flow of oxygenated blood. He flew his fists at Amnia, who made a prompt evasion of the foolhardy decision.

"Adam, go! I'll hold him off while you look for Vulpes!" Amnia shouted as she aimed her 1887, firing off three rounds, crippling the brute. "I'll meet up with you in a few minutes, Adam," Amnia whispered to herself.

"What did you say, _little girl_?" the heavy legionary asked, a look of anger and disgust on his face.

"Just shut up. You won't be keeping me from Adam _that_ long," Amnia said as she stabbed him through the throat, sealing his veins with ice. She walked away as he started to suffocate.

Adam, in the meantime, had encountered Vulpes Inculta, who was doing his best to avoid the bull faunus' fury. "You'll die for what you did, you bastard!" Adam hollered as he swung Wilt wildly around.

"I'll never let you forget your folly!" Vulpes shouted as he took out his ripper to block Adam's swing.

"Your kind are nothing but barbarians! Monsters from another world! And I'll _never_ let you rape and enslave my people!" Adam roared.

"How childish. Just like that boy, you still wish for to save those you care about!"

"Have you seen the look in Brutus' eyes? He's dead on the inside, all because of you!" Adam lectured as he kicked Vulpes to the ground. He raised his ripper to block another slash, however, Adam simply cut off his hand that was holding the weapon, the head Frumentarii screaming in pain.

"You unkempt cur! You'll be flayed alive for this! I'll see to it that salt and lemon juice in your wounds by the hour!"

Adam chuckled at the frantic and vapid threats that were being shot his way. "You seemed to have forgotten that you and your men are in _my _world now," Adam sneered as he knee capped Vulpes with Blush, then severing his other hand with Wilt.

"Y-you monster! You'll pay for this!" Vulpes shouted, before Adam pistol whipped him in the mouth, blood spilling out along with now knocked out teeth.

"I think I will, but not in the way you think." Adam then began to slowly pierce Vulpes' chest with Wilt, bringing out the most pain from his previous captor. As he emerged from the blood and gore, Adam noticed Amnia coming around the corner.

"Adam! Are you alright? You're covered in blood!" She said, worry in her eyes as she hugged him.

"Don't worry, dear. It's not my blood," Adam chuckled as he wiped himself off, noticing the burning command tents around him. "It looks like you have some blood on yourself. We can take a bath once we get back home," Adam said as he surveyed the battle from atop the hill.

The faunus were overcoming the Legion forces, the previously helpless civilians using their advantage of numbers overwhelming the Legion forces' skills. Adam felt Amnia lean on him as she gave a heavy sigh.

"Feeling tired, are we?" Adam teased.

Amnia puffed up her cheeks in protest as she crossed her arms. "No, I'm simply enjoying my favorite resting spot, that's all," she protested.

"Who's that over there on the hill?" Adam asked as he got up.

"I… don't know," Amnia said as she cocked her head to the side. Adam ran in that general direction as Amnia followed close behind.

Salem's Palace

"Hazel, how's your time in Mistral treating you?" Salem asked as floating, orb-like grimm levitated in front of the queen of the grimm.

"It's been good. We'll need to make some adjustments to our plans, as Adam Taurus has taken control of the White Fang and has cancelled our meeting," Hazel explained.

"Hey! It wasn't _all_ bad, my team and I discovered where this guy Qrow and some young kids were held up. Even _better_, I know where Courier Six is!" Lone said with excitement.

"And of what consequence is this Courier Six to my plans?" Salem asked in a vexed tone as she held her forehead.

"Well, he's _incredibly_ skilled in combat, and he's as cunning as he is powerful! That, and he was with some young lady by the name of Cinder or something," Lone said as Neo climbed up onto her shoulders, curiously poking the orb-like creature on their end of the call with her parasol.

"Are you sure her name was Cinder?" Salem asked, leaning in.

Neo pouted as Lone gave an answer. "I'm positive," Lone replied as she took Neo into her arms, holding her like a child as she continued to pout. "Ah! Neo, don't bite me!" Lone said as she walked off and Hazel walked back into view, and Wattz joined him.

"We're finalizing a deal with Raven Branwen. We'll use one of her subjects which has the spring maiden powers to open the vault for us. As for the Courier fellow, Lone has gone on length about Courier Six, and possible ways to take care of him," Wattz explained.

"Good. continue as you were," Salem ordered, the last thing she saw was Lone holding a very unamused Neo up like a puppy.

Later that night, a very drunk Neo, and an even more intoxicated Lone plopped into bed. The two of them cuddling up with the other. Neo rested her neck on the crook of Lone's neck as she drunkenly hugged the multi-color haired assassin.

AN: alright, so for those of you who watch Rising of the Sheild Hero, Raphtalia is to Naofumi as Amnia is to Adam. She's the light that helps him out of the darkness, an example being on the boat when the Kraken Grimm attacked.


	8. All Together Now

Cinder Fall

The pyromancer shifted in her sleep as she gently rubbed the side of Amatus' head. "Hmmmm, your skin is so soft, just like a jackrabbit's fur," she mumbled in her sleep as Six massaged her scalp.

"W-what are you two doing?!" Sister Sestrus asked as she entered the room. Six and Cinder both popped their heads out from under the blanket, rubbing their eyes sleepily.

"Oh, you didn't know? Six and I are in a relationship. He's far more gentle than he seems," Cinder said as she kissed Six on the cheek.

"A… relationship?! When?" Sestrus asked.

"During my absence for the last few months was when we got together, But that's besides the point, We're going to have dinner with Qrow's group."

"But isn't that dangerous?" Sestrus asked.

"It should be fine, Ruby gave us her word. If anyone's trustworthy, its her," Cinder replied as she got out of bed. She got dressed, along with Six as they walked into the kitchen. There were three places set at the table, with freshly made waffles and blueberries along with some jasmine tea.

"So Cinder, what are we gonna do if we decide to back Ruby's group?" Six asked as he wiped some crumbs from his mouth.

"It's simple. We'll give them all the info we have on Salem, and her plans. Then we'll help them with whatever they need," Cinder explained.

"I see. I'll go out today to go grab some more materials for my weapon," Six said, giving Cinder a kiss goodbye. As he left, Sestrus got Cinder's attention.

"Hey Cinder, there's something I need to show you," she said as she pulled out her scroll. She pressed some buttons and some schematics were projected onto the table.

"What's this?" Cinder asked as she observed what appeared to be plans for a large, cage-like air transport. It had a body that was made up of five large cages and a cockpit. The wings were wide and long, and there were three enormous thrusters at the end of it.

"Its some schematics I stole from the archives. I had to make a copy and leave it there so that I wasn't found out. I have another," Sestrus said as she pulled up a diagram of a humanoid grimm. Its entire body was made up of the normal black grimm flesh, except for its head which was covered in a mask of bone, two twisted horns emerging from the side of its head.

"Is that an Apathy?" Cinder asked, receiving a no from Sister Sestrus.

"Apparently it's a new type of humanoid grimm. It was discovered a few months ago. The profile says that it gives off human-like screams when it attacks. Unfortunately that's all it said, and there wasn't anymore information on the archives."

"Damn. That's all?" Cinder asked as she finished her cup of tea.

"Yea. What do make of it?"

"Well, there's only one widely known sources of humanoid grimm. They often form into the more known varieties by changing their physical shape to match that of their surroundings, so if an infant grimm encounters a human, they'll form into a human-like form," Cinder explained.

"But there's another way, isn't there?"

"Yes. Humans who are foolish enough to dip into the pools of grim. become corrupted and they are then afflicted by The Grimm's Blight. And once they have the blight, there's no going back," Cinder finished.

"That's… awful," Sestrus said as she covered her open mouth with her hands.

"You should get some rest, we're going to have a long night," Cinder said as she walked over to the living room, relaxing on the couch. She closed her eyes as the humid, cold air lulled her into a soft daydream.

The seductress dreamt of Six, a child, and her as the sun blared down on the three of them. "Mommy! Mommy! You're back!" the young girl said as she ran towards Cinder, tightly hugging her as Cinder leaned down to catch her, noticing that her hair was duel colored, with Six's hazel brown hair and her sleek black. The girl's long hair was tied into a french braid, the black twisting to the brown, and vice versa. When Cinder looked into her eyes, she realized that the girl's eyes had the same amber color of her own.

"Well, it looks like Ember found you, dear," Six said with a chuckle as Ember nestled into Cinder's arms.

"Honey, how long has she been here?" Cinder asked.

Six chuckled as he flipped a burger on a charcoal grill. "Ever since you've woken up. She's been nagging me about when mommy would wake up," Six laughed.

"Hey daddy, what's that in the woods?" Ember asked with a scared look on her face as she tightly held onto her mother.

"I don-" Six said as an ancient-class grimm leapt out of the forest and at Six.

"Daddy!" Ember screamed as the fire from the grill flared up, and lurched towards the grimm, the white flames consuming it whole, burning it down to ash within seconds.

"Ember, honey. Are you ok?" Six asked as he made a slow approach.

"Amatus, dear, our daughter has just unlocked her semblance!" Cinder exclaimed with excitement as she tightly hugged her child.

"Hey Cinder! Are you awake?" Six asked as Ember cocked her head in confusion.

"Daddy, mommy's already awake?" Suddenly the image began to distort as Cinder awoke from her daydream, opening her eyes to see Six lightly shaking her.

"Good afternoon sleepy head," Six chuckled.

Cinder rubbed her eyes with a yawn as she got up from her resting place. "Thanks. Are you ready to go to dinner?" she asked, shooting Six a concerned look.

"As ready as I'll ever be. We'll head out in an hour," Six said as he walked over to the bedroom, putting on Benny's Checkered Suit, while Cinder dressed up in a red cheongsam dress, the two of them readied themselves mentally, preparing to walk into the metaphorical dragon's den.

"So let's go over it one more time," Six said as he straitened out his collar. "What do we do if they turn hostile?"

"I run while you hold them off," Cinder said in an amused tone, receiving an affirmative nod from Six. "Lets just hope it doesn't come down to that," the pyromancer said with a smirk as she walked out of the door with Six, heading to Ozpin's faction's house. As they walked, the sun began to dip under the thick horizon of houses and shops that dotted the cityscape of Mistral. They arrived at the house, being greeted by Ruby Rose.

"Oh! You're here, come in!" the young huntress led them into the dining room where everyone else was seated.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Six asked as he took a seat.

"Yes, we're expecting Blake to come back tonight," Ruby answered. "It'll be so nice to have the team together again!"

"That's what _you_ think, Rubes…" Yang said as she picked up a bowl and started filling her bowl with noodles.

Ruby brought a tray of tea, serving Courier Six and Cinder Fall as Weiss joined the group. There was a loud banging on the door. "Could that be Blake?" the Schnee asked, taking a sip of black coffee.

"I'll go get it," Six said as he got up from his seat.

"Oh you don't have to do that," Ruby advised.

"What if it's not Blake?" Six asked.

"What?"

"What if it's not Blake at the door, and instead someone wanting to do you harm? You don't seem to have you weapon on you. Are you any good at unarmed combat, Ruby?" Six asked.

"No…" the precious rose replied.

"Well, as a gesture of our alliance, I'll teach you some moves. But right now I'm going to answer that door," Six explained as he opened it up.

"Yo! Wait a minute… you aren't Ruby?!" a familiar voice rang out.

"Sun?!"

"Yang?!" the monkey faunus asked as he pushed his way through Six and to the blonde brawler. "How are you holding up?" he asked with a calming voice.

"I'm doing fine," Yang said as she shot a small, sad smile back at Sun.

"Well, here's my number in case you wanna talk," Sun said as he exchanged numbers with Yang.

"Thanks, it means a lot," she replied, giving him a tight hug.

"No pr- Wait a minute! Is that _Cinder_! What's she doing here?!" Sun asked as the Fall Maiden shot him a hostile glance.

"It's a long story, but to make it short, she's agreed to help us. Speaking of, what information do you have for us?" Yang inquired.

"Don't trust Lionheart. He's under Salem's influence."

"How do you know that?" Qrow asked.

"Because _he_ was the one who gave me the false school papers. That, and his family is being held captive by the Queen of Grimm herself. If he tried to rebel against her, she'd kill them in an instant."

Jaune glared at the pyromancer as she continued. "The _reason_ as to why she's going after Leo, is because that's where the relic of knowledge is held. She needs it to go forward with her plans."

"And what _is_ the end goal of her plan?" Jaune asked with a sceptical and slightly sarcastic tone.

"I… don't know. But what I do know is that she wants to gather all of the four relics together. What she'll do with them is still up in the air."

"Alright," Jaune leaned back, keeping his eyes trained on Cinder.

Then, there was another knock on the door. "That must be Blake," Weiss said as she opened the door to see more than just Blake. There with her, stood the man who had killed countless family members, friends and business associates without any remorse, Adam Taurus.

"You're… a Schnee," he said with a growing smirk.

"Blake! How could you bring _him_ here?!" Weiss shouted in protest as Ruby and Yang joined her.

"Blake? How could you?" Yang said, a deep feeling of betrayal rooting within her. "After everything he did to you _and_ me, you brought him here?!"

"Please Yang, hear him out! He's here to help," Blake peaded, only for Yang to bite back.

"No Blake! You _abandoned _ me when I needed you most! You _knew_ I had issues with those who I cared for leaving me. First my mother, then when I needed you most, _you_ leave me!" Yang retorted as hair began to flare up, embers falling from the end of her locks. "And then, you bring in the man who _cut off my arm_ here like nothing happened!" the blonde brawler roared.

"Hey, don't be so mean to Adam!" Amnia retorted.

"Quiet you sycophant!" Yang snapped back.

"Should we step in?" Six asked.

Cinder shook her head. "It would only worsen our standing with Ozpin's faction. If it comes down to fighting, then try and separate them. But other than that, don't involve yourself," Cinder said as the sound of a shotgun was heard from around the corner, sending Adam flying into the dinning room with Yang following close behind, sending a storm of punches.

"Well that was a quick escalation," Six said with surprise as his sand began to wrap around his arms under his sleeves. Yang leapt on top of Adam, aiming her explosive shot at his head. Amnia sprinted towards her with her gladii in hand with killing intent.

"Get off of him!" she shouted as Yang blocked and parried the incoming slashes.

"That's enough goddamnit!" Six shouted as two large hands made entirely of sand snatched Amnia and Yang, restraining them. "Look, I understand you all wanna slit each other's throats, but right now we have a common goal, defeating Salem, and the more people we have on our side, the higher chance of our success. So can you children _please_ calm down?!"

"You're deluded if you think I'll _ever_ forgive Adam Taurus!" Yang snapped.

"You don't have to. But I'll keep you two restrained until you calm down," Six explained as the sound of sobbing was heard coming from the door.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" A sobbing Blake said as she buried her face in her hands as Ilia comforted her. Six walked up to her, realizing who she was.

"Blake? Ilia?" Amatus said as his expression changed from surprised to relieved.

"Six, what are you doing here?" Blake asked as she wiped away her tears, looking up at him.

"Well, Cinder wanted to help you and your team with defeating Salem, so I decided to help too," Six said with a smile. "By the way, its good to see you too, Ilia."

The chameleon faunus perked up at the mention of her name. "Yea, nice to see you too, Courier. Could you help me get Blake over to the table?"

"Sure thing," Six said as he guided Blake over to the table where Adam now sat.

"Blake, If I had known my being here would have caused all this trouble…" Adam said, only to be cut off by Oscar.

"Why _are_ you here, Adam Taurus?" the headmaster asked, speaking through the fourteen year-old boy.

The Ex-White Fang Lieutenant sighed as he picked up a bowl and began to serve himself some food. "To help you defeat whatever is the cause for attacking my people back in Menagerie. There were people there who shouldn't have been there," Adam explained.

"Who?" Qrow asked as he took a long sip from his flask.

"People from another world," Adam answered.

"As if! You're nothing but a liar, and that's _all_ you'll ever be! A liar and a killer!" Yang shot back from her restrained position.

"Yang, can you please be quiet?" Six requested from her, only to receive a mocking tongue sticking out at him. "Adam, what world are they from?" Six asked.

"A world called Earth," Adam replied as Six's eyes widened.

"Who were the ones who invaded Menagerie?!" Six shouted as he slammed his open hands onto the table, leaning in towards the bull faunus.

Everyone turned to face Six due to his reaction. Adam slowly sipped from his cup of tea before giving an answer. "The Legion."

Six slowly leaned back as a look of pure horror was written all over his face.

"Is everything ok?" Ruby asked with concern.

"No. No its not. This means that there is the capability of bringing entire armies from my world to yours, and vice versa. Do you know how vulnerable my world is to being invaded?! If a highly technological force from this world were to invade the Mojave, my people would be butchered! Slaughtered! Massacred!" Six said with hysteria.

"Six, please calm down, dear," Cinder pleaded as she tried in vain to calm him down.

"Amatus?" Yang asked, a bit concerned for the man as his sand creation's hold over her began to loosen its grip.

"We need to find the source of these spatial teleportations, and end it!" Six said as he nearly collapsed from exhaustion

"Is he going to be ok?" Nora asked.

"I hope so," Ren replied.

"I think Six has a point," Ilia said. "When Blake and I were in the Mojave we encountered a powerful military force called the NCR. I think if they were to be transported here, they could go toe to toe against the Atlesian military with their pure brutality. That, and they have energy weapons and something Six told me were referred to as WMDs."

"And if I hadn't engaged the Legion, they could have subjected all of Menagerie too," Adam continued. "The more horrifying detail, is that the Legion was severely weakened. If they had they're full forces, they could've captured all of Anima. The large forces of the Wasteland could do unprecedented damage."

"Like the Enclave," Cinder interjected. "Amatus told me about them. They're far more technologically advanced than the Legion," the pyromancer explained.

"Really?" Ruby replied, quite concerned.

"Yes, and I believe those were some Enclave soldiers who took Ren and Nora captive when I came to pick up Six."

"Well next time I'll break their legs!" Nora boasted with hearty laugh, pounding her chest with bravado.

"The Enclave? I can't say I've heard of them while I was on Earth, what are they like?" Adam asked, taking a bite of his food.

"Better armor and weapons than the Legion," Ilia answered. "Blake has some left over weapons used by them," Ilia said as she pulled out a laser and plasma pistol, placing them on the table as Blake ate in silence.

For once, Ruby wasn't paying attention to the weapons, and instead was looking at the solemn cat faunus who wasn't talking to anybody. The leader of Team RWBY walked over to her and sat down next to her, putting her arm around Blake Belladonna, who looked up with Six teary eyes.

"I forgive you, Blake," she whispered, so that only the two of them could hear.

The cat faunus looked up at her, replying with a silent smile.

"Six, are you gonna stay down there all night?" Cinder asked as Six got up, making a proclamation.

"Ruby, Jaune, can I talk to you two, in private?" Six asked as he got up from his resting place on Cinder's thighs.

"What for?" Jaune deflected.

"For something only you two would have experience in," Six answered.

"Really?!" Ruby said with excitement as she ahoy up from her seat.

"I'm not coming Ruby," Jaune replied, adamant about standing his ground.

"I know you're still mourning Pyr-"

"Don't you _dare_ speak her name after associating with that witch!" Jaune shrieked as he pointed an accusatory finger at Cinder.

"That's enough! I'm tired of hearing you cry like a little child all the goddamn time! Yea, your partner died, and yea that sucks. But you know what?! At least you still have your friends! At least you still have your family! At least you still have _hope_! In _my_ world, everyone I ever cared about was slaughtered right before my eyes! Again and again and again and again! You know _nothing_ of the strife I went through by _your_ hands, not to mention the rest of my life! Fine, stay where you are and be a rock going against the stream, but you know what? One day, you'll be so eroded down and weak that it won't be a powerful force that strikes you down, no. It'll just be the current of the stream," Six finished as he walked into the kitchen with Ruby.

"Six, are you… ok?" Ruby asked, seeing his hands shaking in rage.

He took a deep breath, tightly clenching his fists to contain in anger. "I'm fine Ruby. Shall we have our talk?" Six asked as Ruby gave a hesitant nod. "Don't worry, I won't bite," Amatus chuckled as the two of them walked into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them.

"So what do you think he's asking her?" Nora asked.

"About a team," Cinder replied casually.

"Really?" Ren questioned.

"Yes. He's asked me many times about how teams work in Remnant. From what I can tell, he wants to form one himself, and is probably asking Little Red about how to be a team leader," the pyromancer explained as she took a sip of her tea.

"So that's why he wanted to talk to me…" Jaune mumbled to himself as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Who do you think he'll add into this team of his?" Yang asked with her arms crossed.

"Well, the first two would be him and I," Cinder started as the rest of the room listened to her. "Next he'll need someone else who would be knowledgeable for the other sentient species on this planet, a faunus. By having a faunus, he would be able to gather information in two ways, should he need to. Now we have two available faunus for his team, Adam Taurus, or Ilia Amitola. While Adam would be a great pick, he also has baggage. But in the same vein, he's respected among the White Fang, which has a wealth of information. On the other hand, there's Ilia, who's also a member of the White Fang, and as such she still has access to the information network, but at the same time, she has none of the baggage. Personally I'd go for Ilia, although the only downside is she's not as skilled as Adam."

"Hey!" Ilia retorted.

"But its true," Adam replied with a smug smile.

"Everyone! Six has an announcement to make!" Ruby said with a nervous smile of her face.

All eyes were on The Courier as he gave a deep breath. "I… am forming… a team! The people who I wish to join Cinder and I on this team are… Adam Taurus and Ilia Amitola, so what do you two say?" Six asked.

"I accept," Adam said as he held out his open hand.

Six shook it with a smile on his face. "Welcome to the team, Adam. So Ilia, what's your decision?"

"I'll… have to think about it," Ilia replied. "I'd like to talk it over with Blake first."

"Hey Adam! Doesn't this mean I won't be able to be with you anymore?!" Amnia interrogated her lover.

"Actually, no. you'll be able to continue to travel with him. I just wanted to have a team of people who've already encountered wasteland combat and were familiar with this world as well. You can still follow Adam around, you just won't be an official member of the team."

"Oh, ok," Amnia replied as she joined Adam at the table.

"You can't be serious right now?!" Yang protested as she continued her run of defiance. Six shot her a stern glare, making sure to get his point across. "You… are. Well why form a team anyways? Huh?"

"So that we can move and act more effectively as a group. If we're just a basic conglomeration of people, then we only know a few of our allies abilities. But if we're split up into teams, then we can coordinate and attack with more [rescision since we'll know everyone in our teams' fighting style. That, and we're trying to eliminate Salem, _not_ be friends. I'm not gonna make you like Adam. Hell, I'm not even gonna force you to be around him, but what I _am_ gonna ask is that you tolerate him. Is that reasonable?" Six asked.

"I suppose…" Yang said as she violently sat down and had her dinner. Just as she started to serve herself, six people barged through the front door, slamming it shut behind them as they scampered into the dinning room.

"Sienna? Mom? Dad? What happened?" Blake questioned.

"Is that… Joshua Graham?!" Six said with excitement.

"Sestrus, what is it?" Cinder asked.

"Brutus? Why are you here?" Adam said with concern as the young boy came running into his arms, tears and a look of pure dread and terror etched on the young boy's face as it was buried into Adam's embrace.

"Some crazy human bitch burned down everything! We're all that's left of the White Fang! That's what happened!" Sienna shouted as she sat The Burned Man down at the table.

"What?! The entire headquarters?!" Adam replied, unable to accept what was just said.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here, Sestrus," Cinder stated.

"It wasn't _just_ the White Fang HQ that they burned down! The Enclave forces have also burned down the entire neighborhood that we were staying in!" the ex-church member answered. "As I was fleeing, I met up with them." Cinder gave an understanding nod.

"Wait a minute, just who are you?" Six asked as he pointed a fully loaded fork at Sienna Khan.

"Who am I?! I'm Sienna Khan, previo-"

"Well Sienna, please take a seat and have some dinner with us," Amatus said with a warm smile, catching the second high leader of the White Fang off guard.

"But why? You don't even know me!" Sienna protested.

"Well, anyone who Joshua approves of is a friend of mine! Anyways, it's not like you have anywhere else to go to tonight," Six laughed as he took a large slurp from his bowl. The newly arrived guests had dinner, and arrangements were made so that everyone could get a good night's sleep.

Six and Cinder, along with Adam and Amnia, Joshua and Sienna, and finally Ghira and Kali. Yang doubled up with Ruby so that Sestrus, Blake, and Sun could have a place to sleep. The entire building fell under a natural sleeping spell as everyone went to sleep.

Salem's Palace

"Doctor Merlot, how goes your developments?" Salem asked as the first disgraced Atlesian scientist joined her at the council room table.

"Quite well, madam Salem. I should be able to bring in more reinforcements from Lone's faction to help reinforce your religious following," the scientists said with excitement.

"Not _that_ doctor, I mean your experimentation on the grimm," Salem said calmly.

"Oh! Even better! I've finished the type one modifications on it. In fact, I have a live demonstration!" Merlot replied as he led Salme down to the undercroft of her castle. When they arrived, Salem looked down into a pit where a single, restrained human as being held. "As you can see, _this_ variety of grimm requires a host to function properly, and as such it will leech off of its host until it can fully form," he said before pulling a lever, releasing a slime-like form with bits of glowing green material in it as it consumed the human, the man screaming in terror as it devoured him. Salem put a welcoming hand on Merlot's shoulder with a smile on her face.

"Congratulations, doctor. Welcome to my council."

"I'm glad to join you and your cause."

AN: And that's that! I hope it was worth the wait! Unfortunately I couldn't work on the chapter for ten days bc I was on a little vacation. But now you all have another chapter to chew on. Get ready for the formation of Team SICA! I've been planning this from the start, and with the WF HQ burned down, Salem in making her move. Don't worry, I'll do my best to make the finale of this 'volume' as good as I can make it! That, and I intend to expand on the after credits scene of volume 5.


	9. The Final Member And A Little Bit More

Ilia Amitola

The chameleon faunus got up from bed, giving Blake a sweet kiss on the cheek as she got up. Blake gave a cute yawn as she tried to keep Ilia in bed. "Don't goooo…" the cat faunus begged as she nuzzled her cheeks against Ilia's.

"Blake, _you_ can sleep in, but I'm going for a jog," Ilia said as she pulled the blankets over Blake as she gave a sleepy thank you. Ilia walked downstairs to see none other than Weiss Schnee preparing some morning coffee, the scent of the caffeinated beverage drawing Ilia closer to the huntress.

"Ilia, right?" Weiss asked, surprising the faunus.

"Oh! Yes, and you're Weiss Schnee, right?" Ilia asked sheepishly.

"Yes, but please don't think of me as a child of Jacque, instead just think of me as… a friend of Blake's," she said with a smile, handing Ilia a cup of coffee. "Care to get out of this stuffy house?" Weiss asked.

"Well where should we go?" Ilia asked, taking a sip of the coffee.

"I thought the overlook would be a nice place to talk, follow me," Weiss explained as she led Ilia out to the extended balcony, the early morning rays of sunlight hitting the two of them shielding their eyes from the bright light. "So what do you want to talk about?" the ex-heiress to the SDC asked as she took a seat down on the ground.

"It's about joining Six's team…" Ilia answered, timidly squirming where she sat.

"So you're having some reservations?"

Ilia nodded as she looked off into the distance. "I want to join so that I can defeat this Salem person, but I don't know if I'll be any help," Ilia said as she twiddled her thumbs.

"Don't say that, I'm sure you'd be a great addition to Six's team. I learned that when I was on team RWBY for first few weeks I felt a bit inadequate. After some soul-searching, I realized that I was putting too much pressure on myself."

"How did you relieve that stress?" Ilia asked as she took another sip of coffee.

"I realized that my teammates were also going through the same thing, and in realizing that, I was able to take that stress off my shoulders."

"What are _you_ doing with _her_?" the previous high leader of the White Fang asked as stood over the two girls.

"Sienna?!" Ilia asked, clearly surprised at the early awakening of the tigress faunus. "Don't feline faunus tend to sleep in a bit more?"

"What are you doing this morning talking to a _Schnee_?" Sienna said with a vexing tone.

"I-I was just talking to Weiss because she was up and I wanted to talk…" Ilia said meekly.

"Enough! You're still a member of the White Fang!" Sienna ordered.

"If that's the case, _then I quit!_" Ilia shouted in defiance.

"You _what_?!" Sienna countered, starting a quickly-paced, hostile advance towards the chameleon faunus.

"I'll take care of that little rich bitch right now!" Sienna snapped as she clenched her fists, taking a wild swing at Weiss, receiving a powerful blow to the face.

"Get off of her!" Ilia shouted as she blocked another incoming blow, saving Weiss from having two black-eyes. "You know Weiss, you're a pretty nice person, I'm glad I met you," she said with a smile.

"You'll eat those words, traitor!" the tiger faunus snapped, only to be knocked on her ass as Ilia did a swift leg sweep. She quickly recovered, sending a volley of powerful swipes with her sharp claws. Ilia ducked too late, her back being slashed up as she tried to recover from the fresh wounds.

Suddenly, Sienna was restrained by a giant hand made of sand as Adam and Cinder rushed to Ilia and Weiss' aid.

"Sienna… what _on earth_ are you doing this early in the morning?" Six asked with a stern look on his face.

"Why should I tell you, _human_?" Sienna snapped back.

"Well, you should tell me because it _looks_ like you're attacking one of your own just because she won't fall in line behind you. That doesn't exactly inspire loyalty," Amatus quipped. "Ilia, you should make a decision: Join my team, or stay with the fang," Six advised.

"You should join Six's team. But I'll support any decision you make," Weiss said as Cinder treated Ilia's wounds.

"Really? Even if I choose the fang?" Ilia asked as the Schnee comforted the faunus.

"Even if you choose the fang," Weiss reassured her.

"Thank you so much," Ilia said as she stood up, facing The Courier. "Courier Six!" Ilia proclaimed as she clenched her fists with pride. Ilia glanced up at the window of Blake and her room as Blake started to watched from the window, rubbing her eyes.

"Yes?"

"I'm joining your team!" Ilia said, putting up a brave face despite the pain on her healing wounds.

"Really?! Well I'm glad you're signing up!" Six said with enthusiasm. "Well, get some sleep and meet me and the rest of the team out here at three in the afternoon," Six said as he walked Ilia into the house, leaving Sienna outside as Weiss quickly joined the group.

"Are you really going to leave me out here!?" Sienna questioned as she was thrown to the ground.

"Well considering you tried to kill my now current teammate, yes. I'll let you in after lunch," The Courier said as he shut the door behind him. "So, Ilia, I think its time you got to get to know the rest of the team," The Courier advised as he led her to the dinning room where a lavish breakfast was placed on the table.

"Is this… for me?" Ilia asked in surprise.

"Well… it's for _everyone_ in the house, but you get first pickings!" Six said with optimism.

"Ilia, what happened?" Blake said as she made her way down the stairs, rubbing her eyes with a tired yawn. She sat down next to Ilia at the table, resting her head on her shoulder. "I heard some commotion from our room," Blake explained as she took a sip of jasmine tea.

"I was talking with Weiss when Sienna came berating me. Then Six, Adam, and Cinder saved us and locked Sienna out of the house," Ilia explained as Weiss took a bite of a breakfast biscuit.

"That's Sienna for you…" Blake quipped.

"Really? She's _always _so… angry?" Amatus asked before he took a bite of toast.

"I'm afraid so," Adam said as Amnia took some cinnamon rolls, giving one to Adam.

"Hey Adam! You should try one of these! They're fucking fantastic!" Amnia explained with glee as she stuffed her mouth with the morning pastries.

"She's a firebrand idealist, willing to take the most extreme of actions if it means achieving her goals," Adam continued.

"I see…" Six replied as he rubbed his chin. "Do you have any way to calm her down?"

Adam gave a nervous chuckle, facing his lover. "There is _one_ way to calm her down, but I doubt any of our team could do it. Since we're all taken," Adam said.

"You can't mean…" Six said with his mouth agape.

"I do. Feline faunus tend to be in heat from time to time, it comes up more often when they get stressed. I've heard her escapades many times."

"Well I hope Joshua is keeping her occupied," Amatus laughed as he ate a toaster strudel.

"That was the idea. I just hope he has the stamina!" Adam gave off a guffaw.

"Alright, now that we have that business concluded, I have some ideas for our team," Six said as the remaining residents of the now cramped house came down for breakfast.

"Good morning, dad, mom," Blake said with a smile as Blake's parents joined them at the table.

"Good morning dear! How's your morning treating you?" Kali asked with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm good," Blake responded offering her parents some food.

"So, Courier, I'd like to know what it is you intend to do with this team you're assembling," Ghira said, giving him a stern look.

Everyone turned to look at Six as he gave his response. "I intend to defeat Salem, and afterwards start the much needed healing between humans and faunus by helping Adam to open up a huntsman academy in Menagerie. That way, the faunus can have a specific representative in the Vytal Festival. Now the social change will take time but the academy will help," Six answered.

"Interesting idea. By the way, who is this Salem woman?" Ghira asked as Joshua let Sienna in.

"As would I. How much of a threat is she?" Sienna asked as she defiantly put her hands on her hips.

"Well considering she was able to coordinate an attack on the White Fang that wiped out your HQ, I'd say she's quite the threat," Six retorted.

Sienna gave a huff as she turned her head away. "If it _were_ her, how could we even begin to challenge her? Just what _is _she?!" Sienna asked in an irate tone.

"She's the queen of grimm," Yang said, abruptly butting into the conversation.

"What?! How could that be! The grimm are creatures of pure darkness that have no sentience," Sienna reasoned.

"That's not true! Dr. Oobleck taught us that grimm who survive long enough have been known to be more intelligent than younger grimm," Ruby retorted.

"If this is true, then it seems I have no choice but to rally the remaining White Fang members and get ready for a war with this Salem!" Sienna said with bravado and fierce fire in her eyes.

"Well, and army runs on its stomach, and yours need to be filled, so how about you join us at the table?" Six offered as he brought a pillow for her to sit on. "So long as you don't go attacking Weiss again!" Six laughed as he gave the previous White Fang leader a plate.

"So, mr…"

"Please, just call me Six," Amatus said.

"So, Six, now that you have a team, what do you intend to do tomorrow?" Kali asked as she ate some smoked salmon.

"Well for starters, we're going to work on some team-moves, and new gear. I was thinking since everyone on the team including myself value powerful, speedy attack styles, that we could get some lightly armored outfits, along with some of this Atlas tech I've heard so much about," Six answered.

"As far as I know, you _can't_ buy Atlas tech here," Weiss said with concern.

"You can get _anything_, so long as you know where to look," Cinder replied.

"What kind of technology are we gonna get?" Ilia asked.

Six grinned as he gave his answer. "Some small but power things that could give us an edge in battle. Heartbeat sensors, dust-proof headgear, hard light dust shields, and dust grenades. And that's not mentioning a personal project that should be ready in a day or two," Six finished.

"I look forward to the upgrade," Adam said just before Amnia put a fork full of sausage into Adam's mouth.

"So, Six, where in Remnant are you from?" Ghira asked.

"I'm not," Six said without any hesitation as he continued to eat his breakfast.

"What?!" Sienna said with astonishment.

"Hm?" Six looked up from his food. "You didn't know? I came from another world, you didn't know?" The Courier said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Tell me later. We have more important things to discuss," Sienna said as the rest of the breakfast went off without a hitch as everyone tolerated each other's existence.

"Ilia, lets go back to the bedroom, I'm feeling a bit under the weather," Blake whispered, Ilia nodded and made her exit, taking Blake to bed.

"Blake and I will be taking our leave. I'll talk with you more about the team later, Six," Ilia said waving everyone goodbye. Ilia tucked Blake into bed when they arrived in their room, however the cat faunus pulled her lover closer, giving her a passionate kiss as she wrapped her arms around Ilia, keeping her close.

Their lips parted as Blake panted in ecstasy. Ilia glided her hands under Blake's clothing as the cat faunus squirmed in pleasure. Ilia continued to tease her partner by giving her quick, cute kisses on her neck. "Just fuck me!" Blake moaned loudly as Ilia reached her breasts.

"You're not wearing a bra today, honey," Ilia said with a lecherous smirk as she slowly rubbed the side of Blake's ample bosom. Blake led Ilia's hands in arousing her via stimulation to the breasts and nipples by having the chameleon faunus rub the nipples and squeezing the breasts.

"Aaaaaaah!" Blake moaned as she felt one of the Ilia's hands go more down south until it reached her soaking entrance. She felt Ilia's index, middle and ring finger slide in, all three of them rubbing Blake to the point of orgasm. "Y-you made me c-c-cum," Blake said as she ejaculated and her body twitched with pleasure. Ilia gentilly turned Blake on her stomach as she began to feel the faunus' ass.

"You know, you're pretty cute when you cum," Ilia whispered in Blake's cat ear as it twitched in pleasure.

"Hmmmm, come over heeeere," Blake requested as Ilia obliged her, wrapping her arm around her cat faunus lover the two of them falling asleep in each other's arms during a sloppy french kiss.

The next room over, Yang and Sun were having a far less sexual time. "Yang," Sun said as he joined the frustrated blonde on her bed, sitting right next to her. "You'll need to forgive her eventually," the monkey faunus reasoned.

"Yea… I know. But look at how she ignored what I told her about me! About what I feared most! She ran away, abandoning me… like I was nothing to her. Do you know how that makes me feel?!" Yang burst out in anger, her hair burning a bright yellow.

"You don't know how much I know…" Sun said, wrapping a sympathetic arm around Yang's shoulder as she looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" the blonde brawler asked.

"Back before I formed team SSSN I was being abandoned by everyone I care for. I can _never_ forget that feeling…" Sun said with a heavy sigh.

"Of a pit in your stomach," Yang finished as the two of them locked eyes.

"A feeling of pure dread, that you can do nothing about," the two of them said in a mournful tone as they embraced in a tight hug as Yang began to cry as Sun rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

"I never knew… how did you hide it all?" Yang asked as she wiped away her tears.

"Just like how you do, with a smile," Sun chuckled. Yang replied with an amused laugh as she gave Sun a hearty slap on the back.

The monkey faunus got up from the bed and walked to the floor, only for Yang to stop him a few feet from the floor.. "Sun. Please stay with me tonight," she said, trying her best to convince him to stay.

"But don't you share the room with Weiss?" Sun asked.

"Yes, but I want _your_ company. In my bed."

"W-what?!"

"Don't be so presumptive! That's not what I meant! I want to…" Yang said, a bit embarrassed.

"What is it?"

"I want to have someone who understands me to be with me. It gets cold when I'm alone, even with the heavy blankets."

Sun gave a bright smile as he finally gave in. "Sure." Yang's sad expression moved to a smile brighter than Sun's as she grabbed his hand and threw him onto the bed as the two of them cuddled, Yang falling asleep on Sun's abs as Sun began to catch some sleep, the two of them sharing the warmth of the other's body to comfort each other. When she thought he had fallen asleep, Yang gave Sun a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"You're so kind. No wonder Blake was interested in you," Yang chuckled as she wrapped her arms around Sun as she finally fell asleep.

The Lone Wanderer

Team LEMN advanced on the last known place of the spring maiden. The lethal team of four reached the bandit camp, the tall, fortified walls keeping out both grimm, and other bandit clans. Lone was greeted by five bandits welding subpar weaponry.

"Neo, wanna help me with this?" Lone said with a smirk.

The short cutie killer gave a nod with her own devious smirk as she opened up her parasoul as Lone took out her plasma pistols. She shot two in the head, killing them instantly, while the remaining three rushed her. Lone switched out with Neo who played one of them like a fiddle while Emerald and Mercury butchered the last two. Team LEMN moved into the main camp with only one living bandit as Raven Branwen herself walked out of her tent with her mask on.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" she said as Lone began her proposition.

A.N. Hey guys! I know y'all have been waiting for this chapter and I hope I didn't disappoint!


	10. A Dragon, Monkey, and Bull

Sun Wukong

The monkey faunus awoke to see a shirtless Yang constricting his torso, using it as a pillow. "Mmmmm, so warm," Yang murmured as she continued to sleep.

"_Shit! When did she take her shirt off?! Did we… no! I know for a fact that we didn't have sex! But I should definitely check…" _Sun thought as he slowly lifted the heavy blanket, seeing his boxers still on. "_Thank goodness!"_

"Too cold!" Yang complained in her sleep as she swatted at Sun's hand that was holding up the blanket. "Better," She mumbled as she buried her head in his abs. Sun massaged her back to comfort her which seemed to work as she fell asleep. Yang hummed a sweet melody in her sleep as Sun sat there, awake and attentive. Yang began to shift in her sleep, moving her bust down to his thighs, arousing his manhood.

"_Shit! If she wakes up now she'll think I'm trying to get with her and I'll get a fist to the balls!" _Sun thought as the blonde brawler began to wake up, opening her eyes to see Sun's morning wood.

"Oh…" Yang said with a lecherous smirk as she looked up at him, climbing up to meet him face to face, her mammaries dangling from her chest. "I see you like me. You know Sun, all you had to do was ask," she teased as she moved her face closer to his.

"I didn't me-" Sun said before Yang grabbed him from the back of the head.

"Just shut up a kiss me you dumb blonde," She said before their lips smashed together, Yang's tounge overtaking Sun's as she wrapped her arms around his body, her breasts pressing up against him, arousing hime further.

"Yang, do you want me?" Sun asked as their lips parted.

"All of you," Yang panted as she began to rub his throbbing rod under his boxers. Sun gripped her breasts, softly squeezing and kneading them as she moaned in pleasure. "Sun! Aah! More! More! More! Make me cum!" She moaned as the blonde faunus teased her nipples. The burning dragon ripped off the monkey faunus' boxers as she began to grind on him. "You look _so_ cute when you're in pleasure," Yang said as she held his head in her arms as he continued to play with her sensitive melons. "Y-you know a-a lot of people see me as a promiscuous girl… aaaaaah!" Yang moaned as Sun's personal staff entered Yang's cavern, filling it with his seed. She slumped down, as wrapped a blanket around the two of them as they began to cuddle more intimately.

Sun brushed back the strains of hair that obscured Yang's gorgeous face. "You know, ever since I saw you and who you are, I always saw you as such a beautiful person… with such a beautiful personality. You care so much for your teammates, your sister especially. You try to be strong enough for everyone," Sun said as he gave the yellow dragon a kiss on the forehead.

"Really? Because the reason why I _love_ you is because you're able to look past what one would think about me, and see who I was on the inside. You're so… earnest," Yang said with a smile as she cupped his cheeks. The two of them dozed off, Sun's tail wrapping around one of Yang's arms as she softly held it, the hardy brawler's breaths tickling Sun's neck. The dragon and the monkey spent the rest of the morning cuddling, and making love, their bond getting stronger and stronger the more they talked.

Just one bed over, Weiss was trying to get some sleep, however the constant banging of Yang and Sun. "Can you two _please_ stop fucking?!" Weiss shouted, only to be greeted by the dazed face of Yang peeking out of the blankets.

"Sorry Weiss!" Yang chuckled as she held Sun close to her, like a child holding onto a blanket.

"Its fine, could you two please keep it down," Weiss requested. "I'm trying to get some beauty sleep."

Yang snickered as Sun slept in her lap. "Some things never change."

"What do you mean by that?!" Weiss protested from the perceived slight.

"Well, for starters, you still get that flustered look when you're frustrated," Yang pointed out as she combed through the monkey's short, blonde hair.

"Be quiet! I'm going back to bed!" Weiss said with a huff.

"Out of all the boys I've been with, you're the only one that resembles a man," Yang whispered to Sun. "And you're so adorable when you're sleeping," the blonde brawler continued as she rested her head near his.

Adam Taurus

The bull faunus awoke to his lover and companion, Amnia, smothering him with her chest as her arms wrapped around him. "Hmmmm, my lovely Adam. More kissies for youuuuu!" She said in her sleep, as she french kissed the pillow.

"Amnia, would you mind not suffocating me?" Adam choked out as the ex-legionary assassin jumped up from her current position with a blush on her face.

"H-how much did you hear?!" Amnia asked.

Adam simply chuckled and gave her a peck on the lips before getting up from his spot on the couch. "But I appreciated the _kissies_," he teased as Amnia's face turned redder than a strawberry. "Shall we get some breakfast?" the bull faunus asked as he led Amnia to the kitchen to discover The Courier telling a verbose tale of the time he saved Goodsprings to the adults. Adam popped in some raisin bread into the toaster as Amnia found some seats for the two of them. The two of them listened to Six's oration.

"-ere I was, speaking Ringo in the abandoned gas station, his crazed eyes staring back at me and his hand aiming a pistol straight for my head!"

"How did you get out of there alive?" Asked Kali.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Questioned Ghira.

"How was the battle?!" Sienna begged as Joshua, Qrow, and Sestrus sat there silently.

"Now calm down, there was no battle, the guy was just a spooked. So I talked him down and we had a chat, as we finished our talk, I came to the realization that if I wanted to fend off Joe Cobb and his gang, I would need more than just my own two hands. So I went to get some reinforcements. First I went to Chet, the local businessman to barter for some armor to equip the townsfolk. Next, I moseyed on over to an old-timer by the name of Easy Pete. Now Easy Pete was a stickler when it came to sharing, and that was especially true when it came to his dynamite!"

"Why would you need explosives?" Qrow asked before taking a sip from his flask.

"Well, the powder gangers have ballistic vests, so it would help to be well equipped to eliminate the foe with minimal casualties. After I obtained the boom sticks, I went over to Trudy, who helped me devise a plan to trap the powder gangers. Finally, I headed over to the man who saved my life, asking him for one more favor, which was some stimpacks and some homemade healing powder."

"Stimpack? What's a Stimpack?" Sienna asked.

"A bit of healing technology from before the great war. It heals wounds at a rapid pace. However, in the current times, they're hard to come by, and a smart person reuses the empty syringes and learns how to replicate the formula. An even smarter person would horde them like they're lives depend on it, because it does," Joshua explained as he took a sip of black coffee.

"They have _that_ kind of technology in your wasteland?!" Sienna responded with disbelief.

"The battle was fierce! Bullets were flying, dynamite was being thrown, and bodies were hitting the floor at a rapid pace, until the entire town went quiet. There was an unnatural calm after the skirmish, and all was mundane once more," Amatus concluded as he drank a nuka cola.

Adam slowly clapped his hands getting the attention of everyone in the room. "Nice story. Care to tell another?"

"I'm afraid my repertoire is empty at the moment. However we, or rather Ilia and I _will _ be gathering some upgrades for all of our outfits."

"Alright. Here take these, they still fit so you can use these as a reference for my measurements," Adam said, handing over a spare outfit of his.

"Thanks," Six replied as he graciously took the articles of clothing. "Once Ilia wakes up we'll be heading out. In the meantime, I would advise getting ready for a battle," Six advised as he looked out of a nearby window.

"What makes you say that?" Adam asked.

"After being in a world where war is a constant, you just get a sixth sense for those kinda things. Just… be ready for a big battle. All of you," The Courier said, facing everyone at the table before he walked out of the room, taking a muffin with him, hearing the door to Blake's room opening and Ilia telling the cat faunus goodbye.

"You ready to go?" Six asked as Ilia opened up her scroll.

"Yea, I've already ordered all of the required materials and custom items for you after Blake went to sleep last night," Ilia said as the two of them walked out the door.

As the two of them were gone with sight, Yang and Sun came down for a some post-love indulgences. As the fiery dragon passed the blunt bull, she shot a glare at Adam before grabbing some sausage and toast.

"If you have something to say, then say it, blondie," Adam shot back at her.

"Fine," Yang said as she turned to face him. "I want you _dead_. Simple as that. However, I can't get that and now I have to _cooperate_ with you as well. Once this Salem woman is taken care of, _you're_ the next one on my kill list," Yang hissed like a viper about to strike.

"Why not have our little re-match right now?" Adam suggested, the blonde brawler agreeing on the proposition.

"I'd like that _very_ much," Yang said with a smirk as she grabbed Ember Silica and activated her robotic arm in preparation for combat.

"Yang, don't be too rash…" Sun warned, trying to calm down his lover and friend.

"Don't worry, my little bad-boy," Yang responded. "I'll be fine. We're not going to make this lethal, just… satisfying," Yang replied, cracking her knuckles. As Adam followed her outside to the sparring grounds.

Adam took out Wilt and Blush as the combatants took their place at opposite sides of the arena. Suddenly, a young child walked out of the house and pointed at Adam with a stern look on his face. "Don't you dare loose, you horned bastard!" Brutus shouted.

Adam scoffed at the child's declaration as he stroked his battle pose, Yang doing the same.

In an instant, Yang and Adam bursted forward. Yang delivered a burst of punches aimed for Adam's head. The bull faunus managed to pery a few punches, being forced to take the remaining blows, staggering back from the impact. Adam tried to block a gut punch, which was powerful enough to send him flying.

"You like that you arm-taking son of a bitch?!" Yang mocked as the bull faunus rose from the crater in the ground.

"How _dare_ you insult my parents! My mother was a saint!" Adam roared as he charged the busty brawler, charging with the tip of Wilt at Yang's chest, which was blocked by Yang, only for Adam to flip Yang on her ass via a leg sweep. However, the blonde sent a quick kick towards Adam. He grabbed her ankle, throwing her away from him. Yang reoriented herself by using her Ember Silica, firing off multiple shotgun blasts, then firing off three explosive shells at Adam, who knocked the first two, then using the pure explosive energy from the third to be absorbed by his sword.

"_I need to finish this battle before this gets lethal,"_ Adam thought as he began to activate his semblance, the sky turning black, and the red of his blade and hair began to glow as the power started to gather. He swung the mighty blade, the wave of energy bounding towards Yang Xaoi Long. The eldest daughter of the Xaoi Long household activated _her_ semblance, absorbing the wave of energy and all of the damage that came with it.

The brawler rushed Adam, tackling him to the ground with her right fist ready to pummel the faunus. Adam acted swiftly, grabbing Wilt, pointing the tip of the sword at Yang's throat. She threw her punch, only for Adam to sweep her off her feet once more, but this time she was ready. The blonde brawler wrapped her leg around his and tripped him onto the ground face first. Then she wound up another punch as her hair started to ignite and her eyes turned to a crimson shade of red. She send a flurry of punches at Adam's stomach, hearing the sound of his aura giving way.

The bull faunus took Blush and fired until the magazine was empty, depleting Yang's aura too. "Now we're even, girl," he said getting up from his current position. " I have to admit, you've gotten a lot better since Vale."

"As have you," Yang smirked before firing some shots at Adam, giving her the much needed distance to get out of the blade's reach. Just as Adam was about to charge Yang, a certain female voice cried out.

"Yang! Adam! Please stop!" Blake cried as tears fell from her eyes. "Stop arguing and stop fighting!" she pleaded. "You're not helping when you try and cut each other down! Please just stop this…" Blake begged as she fell to the ground on her knees, Sun consoled his good friends as she buried her head in her hands. Adam sheathed his sword, and Blake collapsed Ember Silica.

Adam hung his head low with shame as a frown grew on his face. "I'm sorry, Blake. It… won't happen again," Adam promised as laid down Wilt and Blush at Blake's feet, a show of trust to his previous apprentice.

"Fine. I got all the punches in on the horned bastard," Yang said with a huff.

"Yoooo, we're back! And we even got some outfit upgrades!" Six said with a wide smile and tons of bags in his hands, with Ilia in a far more exhausted state, holding even more bags.

"By the fang, Courier, could you _not_ buy so much!? We were on a budget!" Ilia said as she dropped the bags she was carrying. Just as all of them faced the door to the house, none other than Qrow Branwen came out to deliver a daunting message.

"Hey, I've already told everyone in the house, so I'm telling you all this too: Leo wants us to come to the academy," the grizzled huntsman said before walking back inside.

AN: Hey guys and gals! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry if the Lemon in the beginning caught Y'all off guard. I just don't like putting the warning in because it ruins the flow of the scene and stuff. Onto other news, I'm writing another fic! This one will be a My Hero Academia one! I'm calling it _Midnight's Sidekick_! I really hope you guys like the first chapter of it if you so choose to read. It won't be a crossover, so hopefully I'll get even more people reading my material! So excited!


	11. The Battle Begins!

Cinder Fall

"So what's the plan of attack?" the seductress asked as she ate a piece of toast at the meeting table.

"Well, since we can't trust Leo, we'll have to organize two teams to go in. The first one will go along with what he wants us to do, while the second team will circle around back to flank him from the rear," Qrow explained. "What are the chances he'll have reinforcements?"

"Very likely. The only thing he needs is the spring maiden, and I know Raven Branwen is in possession of her," Cinder answered.

"And I know for a fact that Raven would temporarily ally herself with Salem to save her own skin," Qrow said as he sipped from his flask.

"How powerful is Raven?" The Courier asked as he cleaned Ionized Flame.

"She's at my level, but you shouldn't worry about her, I'll be occupying her time while team RWBY and JNR go for the forward advance."

"And that leaves my time to flank from behind?" Six asked with a slight frown.

"Yea, do you have a problem with that?" The younger Branwen child asked sternly.

Six rubbed his forehead with a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose it's alright. My team is more suited for stealth-based missions now that I think about it," The Courier said with a laugh.

"Good, now get your team ready. We leave in three hours," Qrow said as he got up from the coach.

"This is perfect! Now I can give out the outfit upgrades!" Six said, giddy with glee. "First, Adam. I got you something special. Since you seemed to like red and black, and since you're trying to change I got you a white and blue trench coat!" He said as he handed the bull faunus the new armor that had the image of a dove holding a blue rose branch in white on a blue and white background.

"Next, Ilia! I've slimmed down your Enclave Power Armor to be closer to a stealth suit, and when we get to Atlas we'll be able to purchase hard light dust and feed your personal shield. That, and with the lessened weight, you can move a lot faster!" Six said as he materialized the power armor and giving it to her.

"Thanks Six!" Ilia said, hugging Six tightly before hopping into her new armor.

"Finally, Cinder! There wasn't much to do except add some more armor, so here are some elbow and knee pads!"

"Thanks…" the pyromancer said with little enthusiasm.

"Now on to some team attacks!" Six said with a wide smile. "Now I've come up with some names of attacks. The first one, Fiery Fury, Adam and Cinder. The second one, Stealth Bomber, Ilia and myself. Glass Castle, that would be me and Cinder. Power of the People, Ilia and Adam. Swordsmen, Adam and me. And Finally, Flamming Assassin, with Cinder and Ilia. So what do you all thing?"

"Well thought out, I guess…" Adam replied.

"So what's the plan boss?" Ilia asked as Six smirked.

-3 Hours Later-

"I can't believe I went along with this!" Ilia complained as she crawled through the ventilation shaft.

"Oh come on, its not that bad!" Six said, trying to minimize the severity of the plan.

"I thought when you said we'd be sneaking around that we'd be outside, not crawling through cramped spaces!" Ilia retorted.

"I thought you were a special operative in the White Fang?!" Amatus said in confusion.

"Well… I was! But I didn't go crawling around like this!" the chameleon faunus shot back.

"Can you two stop bickering?" Adam asked as the team arrived just above their target, Leonardo Lionheart. "I'll carve an opening," the bull faunus said. The heavy of Team SICA carved up an opening, kicking the metal disc down in front of the cowardly headmaster, who tried to flee from the scene. Ilia activated her semblance, using Lionheart's metal shoulder pads to crush his shoulder, the metal crunching the bone and cutting through the tendon. Six took out some throwing knives, landing a few hits on the headmaster's knees.

"W-who are you?! What do you want from me!?" he shrieked.

"Grow a spine, Leo," Cinder ordered as she leapt down from the vent. "You're so pathetic. Now give us the key to the vault," the pyromancer demanded.

"Here it is," Leo said, making a slow approach, activating his weapon and shooting a fireball at Cinder, knocking her back and blocking Lover's Scorn. Adam rushed behind Leo and delivered two deep cuts in the back of his knees. Ilia used her semblance to use Leo's weapon against him, stabbing shards of metal from his buckler into his arm. He screamed in pain as the Courier made a slow approach.

He crouched down to Leo's level, keeping a disturbingly calm tone. "Give me the key to the vault and tell me where to use it," Six whsipered.

"O-ok. But I want to know something, who are you?" he asked, taking off his stopwatch and giving it to Six.

"Well I can answer that question!" a familiar voice said, opening the door to the headmaster's office as the image of Lone entered the room, followed by Neo and Mercury. "His name, is Courier Six, and he's a damn fine fighter! I can't wait to kill him!" Lone said, swooning with infatuation. She pulled out her swords and charged at Six while Neo kept Cinder occupied.

Mercury backed up Lionheart to keep the two faunus of team SICA occupied. He sent a volley of dust buckshot at Adam, who absorbed the blasts with Wilt and Brush, while Leo tackled Ilia, the two of them wrestling on the ground, the lion faunus having the upper hand. Ilia elbowed him in the face repeatedly, slamming the handle of Lover's Scorn into the side of his head, eventually knocking him out.

Six pulled out Ionized Flame to block the incoming flurry of bladed strikes. Six threw one of his glass orbs filled with sand, the glass shattering on impact. "Heh, you missed Six, are you losing your luster?" Lone taunted as she managed to slip one of her swords past the Courier's defense. Amatus backed up as both the shards of glass and sand began to rise, unnoticed by Lone. She began to charge at Six, only to feel multiple sharp pains in her back, then a heavy, blunt force impact, sending her flying into right towards Six who was readying to take a swing. He followed through, delivering a deep cut into Lone's face. The fire from Ionized Flame cauterized wound immediately, although the blood ceased to pour out, the pain continued. It left a repulsive scar across her face.

Lone looked over her shoulder to see who had sent shards of glass into her back. She found Cinder aiming with her hand while using the robotic arm's machine gun attachment to keep Neo at bay. "Kill that bitch!" Cinder yelled as she countered another tab from the short assassin. Six nodded as he sent two drills of sand towards Lone, grazing her on the side of her head with one, the second one pierce through her lower jaw. The Wanderer injected a stimpack into her jaw, healing the second wound and pulling out her chinese pistol and firing relentlessly at Amatus.

Many of the shots landed, hitting the Courier in the torso. The armoring of the modified duster absorbed all of the small arms fire, negating any possible damage. Then, Lone pulled out a chinese assault rifle. She aimed down the sights unloading the entire clip in Six's direction. He formed all the sand into a thick wall, preventing the higher caliber bullets from hitting their mark. Just as Six pulled out his grenade rifle, he saw Lone crawling over the sandstone barrier, unloading another magazine at Six, who aimed and fired the grenade rifle, blasting the insane tom-boy off of her perch.

"You'll pay for that!" she shouted from behind the sandstone. Then, three strange balls, one from the left, from the right, and from above the sandstone plate. They all exploded at the same time, encasing Six in ice. Lone slowly walked out from behind, clapping her hands in amusement. "I'm so glad you could finally cool off, Six. Living in the desert for so long, you forget how nice a breath of cool air can be!" she snickered. "You know, this dust stuff is pretty potent when used in the right way, like an ice bomb!" Lone explained as she scratched at her newly acquired scar, her brown, twin french braids swaying with her hips as she made a slow, taunting approach. When she reached him, Lone tightly wrapped her hands around the Courier's neck, choking him out. Six made a last ditch effort to shake her, using his semblance to form a scythe with the sand, slashing at Lone's back. She gave off an ungodly scream of pain as Six had started to break free of the ice. The Lone Wanderer lunged forward, trying to finish the job, only to have a knocked out Neo thrown at her, intercepting her aim and knocking her to the ground. "Neo! My little Neo! Nooooooo!" Lone screeched, turning to Cinder who was changing her weapon on her robotic arm to the serrated claws. The enclave colonel charged at Cinder in pure rage as she began to fraticly swing her two swords in the pyromancer's direction. She ducked and weaved, only getting a scratch here and there, using her claws to grab the swords crushing them in her grip.

"Get away from my man," Cinder growled as she equipped the flamer, delivering a current of flames that engulfed Lone's body.

"Fiery Fury!" Six shouted as Cinder rushed over to assist Adam with dealing with Mercury. Adam unleashed a storm of slashes, being blocked by the grey haired killer's hydraulic legs. Cinder came in from the side with her metal claws.

Mercury blocked with a smirk. "Oh, fancy seeing you here, Cindie," he mocked, shooting a few shots at Cinder, who retaliated with a massive flame being shot from her palm, forcing Mercury to flee along with Lionheart, only for the cowardly headmaster to be restrained by Ilia using her semblance to crush Leo's feet via the steel toe boots he wore.

"Now where. Is. The. Key?" Cinder asked, clearly loosing her calm and collected air and replacing it with a more vexed tone.

"H-here! Just take it!" he shouted, throwing her the locket that was wrapped around his neck.

"Wait a minute! That's just big enough to fit in the empty slot in the golden empress statue!" Ilia pointed out as she snatched the locket and looked back to the two remaining foes. "What do we do with them?" she asked in disdain.

"Heh, you shouldn't be worried about dealing with us, instead you should be helping your friends!" Lone cackled. Then, as if on cue, a blood curdling scream came from the main hall of the building. All four of them ran to its source to a horrific sight; Ruby Rose in the ground, clutching the stub that was what was left of her right leg. A look of sheer terror and panic in her eyes as tears of pain and fear shot out of the eye ducts.

"Ruby!" Yang, Jaune, and Six all shouted in unison as the three of them ran to her. Six pulled out a stimpack and a doctor's bag, Yang punching through a group of Enclave soldiers that were in between her and her sister, and Jaune taking wild, furious swings at Emerald as she backed off from her victim.

"That's what you get! You damn, naive child!" the green haired monster howled in anger, brandishing her weapons.

"Y-you're so mean!" Ruby shouted back, holding back crying, tears still streaming down her cheek.

"Emerald! What have you done?!" Cinder shouted out in disgust, turning a sympathetic eye towards Ruby as she made an approach to the girl in red. "Adam, Ilia, defend Ruby while we tend to her wound."

"Jaune, Yang! I'm going to need you two to hold her down while we cauterize the wound!" Six commanded as Cinder started to heat up her hands. First, Six wrapped a tourniquet around the stump, preventing further blood-loss. Then, Cinder put her hand on the young huntress' wound, the fire helping to temporarily close the wound, the burnt flesh acting as a stone wall against the veins.

Just as the battle began to wane, a rumbling came from the front door, as a man ten feet tall covered in enlarged power armor and holding two gigantic plasma pistols. Six's blood ran cold as this modern day Goliath swept the floor with Qrow, Nora and Ren, assisting the man known as Hazel Reinhart in his battle.

"Run!" Six yelled as he instinctively picked up his patient bridal style and ran.

"Hey, where the hell are you going with my sister!?" Yang yelled.

"Somewhere safe, and I suggest you all do the same!" Six shouted as he ran back into Leo's office, barricading the door behind him.

"W-what are you doing?" Ruby asked, delirious from all of the pain she had endured and blood she had lost, only to see for the first time, a completely fearful Courier Six, a single, fearful tear running down his face as she heard something outside.

"I am Frank Horrigan!" the monster in power armor shouted. "And. I. Am. Enclave now!"

AN: Hey guys! I'm back in school, so that means I'll be more productive! Now if you all follow my other stories, y'all will have noticed that I published a MHA oneshot. Well, I might make it into a full blown fic, and I have a few more oneshots in the works, but even better, they have a shared universe! That's right! There's gonna be a point where these three possible fics might converge, but at the very least, they'll each be getting a one-shot. And as always, thanks for reading!


	12. Within the Tides of Battle

Yang Xaoi Long

"Your little sister should have just backed off, Yang," Raven Branwen smirked as she taunted her daughter. "Maybe if she knew her place she wouldn't be without a leg."

"Shut up! Don't you _dare_ talk about Ruby like that!" the blonde huntress shot back, activating her Ember Silica, shooting off five explosive shots at Raven, who dodged each of them.

"I would have thought all that time with your father would have made you a bit more skilled. Looks like I was wrong."

Yang looked over to see Horrigan and Hazel charging at Weiss, Blake, Adam, and Ilia, while Qrow, Ren, and Nora were recovering. "Die wastelander scum!" he roared, charging through the bulwark of fighters, only to be hindered as Weiss froze one of his legs using one of her glyphs while Adam slashed the frozen limb clean off, using the rest of his semblance to do so. The goliath crashed to the ground. He roared in pain, aiming his gigantic plasma pistols and firing at will.

The busty brawler closed the distance between her and her mother, sending a blitz of punches, slamming her solid fists into Raven's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She made a quick recovery, slamming the butt of her katana into her daughter's head, staggering her back. That gave the raven-haired woman an opening for a kill shot as she sheathed her blade, pulling out a lightning dust blade, sending waves of electricity, hitting her only child.

"You're so damn naive. You think just because you're a huntress you'll be able to get bye. But that's not the case! Salem is too strong! You or your friends can't beat her! So just give up, and live the rest of your life with _me_, where you can have a family!" Raven begged.

"Family?! _Now_ you bring up family!? You had a family, and you threw it away! You had your chance, and now you've lost it. You're so pathetic. You think Salem will spare you? If she's willing to kill my team and uncle Qrow, what makes you think she won't come after you! If _anyone_ is naive it's you! You think you'll be safe with your little underlings, but honestly… you'll be the first to die," Yang retorted.

"Yang… please don't leave me… I don't want to die alone," Raven pleaded as a few tears started to form under her eyes.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have left me!" Yang shouted. "Maybe you shouldn't have left the family that was already there for you! Maybe I… can't forgive you, so just go!"

"W-what can I do to make you forgive me?" Raven asked, teary-eyed.

"Well, you _can_ help me by opening up the vault, lets go," Yang said as walked towards the statue of the golden goddess. Raven placed Leo's locket into the empty space, the statue began to rise, revealing the elevator from below. As they descended, the blonde daughter asked her estranged mother a simple question. "What do want from all of this?"

Raven wiped away some of her tears before answering. "All I want, all I ever wanted, was peace and quiet. I… guess I got caught up in the tribe and in the process abandoned you and your father in the process," Raven replied, keeping her head hung in shame.

"Oh… well, I don't know about dad, but… I _would_ be nice to have you around. Maybe teach me some new techniques," Yang said with a small, warm smile on her face. They arrived at the vault chamber. Raven stepped onto the panel, activating her maiden powers to open the doors. It creaked and moaned as the two enormous barriers parted, revealing a desert with a path of levitating rocks and a floating lamp.

"So that must be the relic of knowledge. Huh, thought it would've looked like a book or scroll," Raven chuckled.

"Whatever, I'm gonna go grab it," Yang said as she ran off to get it. "Watch my back!"

Just as she said that, a man covered entirely in steel blasted out from below, slamming his body into the ex-bandit leader. "Give me the relic, and your mother lives," the metal man said as he lifted Raven up by her neck.

"Who are you?!" Yang shouted back as she activated Ember Silica, charging at the assailant with a rush of punches. The mysterious threat countered by throwing Raven on top of her. The blonde brawler collapsed under the weight of her mother.

"I am what remains of the Legate Lanius!" the metal-covered monster roared as his metallic hands morphed into bladed claws, the palms changing to an automatic gun. He fired at both of them, forcing the mother and daughter to hide behind a large rock.

"How are we going to beat this guy?! And who is this Legate Lanius guy?!"

"Don't worry, Yang, I have an idea. You'll leap up from this position here to serve as a distraction while I go in for the kill. Just don't get killed before then."

Yang nodded as she shot up into the air with her shotgun gauntlets, firing them off for mid-air maneuverability. Lanius took an unexpected action, instead of staying stationary, the metal machine started to charge Raven's position. "_Could he have found out our plan?"_ Yand thought as she sent two explosive shells bounding towards him, blasting open his back as the hulking figure crashed into the ground.

"Trying to stop me, girl?!" the beast roared in laughter as he rose from his position, his clawed mandibles scratching into the earth. He aimed his twin guns at the exposed position as Raven waited for her opening.

"Mom! Move, now!" Yang shrieked as her mother was cornered by the monstrous android, its glowing red eyes the same color as hers. The black-haired woman was paralized, as she refused to budge, keeping her hand clenched on the hilt of her blade. Yang shot back towards him, readying up for a powerful right-hand hook. Just as Yang delivered a denting blow, Raven seized the opportunity to deliver _her_ killing blow, a blade of pure electric dust, overcharging his systems, the now inanimate mass of steaming metal fell to the ground, dead.

"Good job, dear," Raven said, giving her daughter a hearty slap on the back, encouraging her to grab the relic, which she did, hooking it onto her belt. They rode the elevator up, seeing her allies and friends in trouble. Just as she started to run, she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder.

"If you make it back in one piece, I'll be there to welcome you back home," Raven whispered in her ear before escaping through one of her portals. Then the blonde brawler looked over to see them engaging in combat against a large man, and an even larger monstrous man covered in metal plating.

Yang rushed over to her teammates, assisting them in dealing with Horrigan and Hazel. Hazel hit Yang with a gut punch, sending her hurtling her to the ground as he charged her. She used her weapons to maneuver out of the way as his dust enhanced fist crashed through the floorboards, the fire dust starting a small fire which started to spread throughout the room. Horrigan shot at the four fighters, Weiss constructing a wall of ice to shield her allies from the giant balls of plasma that burned through the ice, steam rose from where the shots landed.

"What is that thing?" Yang asked as she reloaded Ember Celica.

"It has the Enclave's insignia on its chest plate," Ilia answered. "So it must be a with Lone."

"Who're the Enclave?" Weiss asked.

"You can ask Amatus once this battle is over, but to give you the short of it, they're a _very_ dangerous faction in his world," Adam answered.

"Your ride's over muties! Time to die!" he shouted from the other side of the ice wall.

"Hey blondie, you up to help me take out that thing?" the bull faunus asked as he loaded a magazine of earth dust into his rifle.

"Sure thing, you prick. How are we doing it?" Yang asked begrudgingly.

"I'll fire the earth dust at the ground creating pillars that you can climb. Once you're on top of the tallest one, take advantage of the height and finish him off. Do you think you can do it?"

"I'm sure she can!" Sun said as he joined them.

"You thinking about joining her, monkey boy?" Adam asked as he examined his blade.

"I don't see why not!"

Just then, Frank Horrigan swiped away the ice wall, leaving the group exposed and open for an attack. Hazel shot an enormous fireball at them, Adam blocking the ball of flames and absorbing it into his sword. Horrigan charged the group, activating his enhanced bladed gauntlets, swiping and stabbing at them.

"Scatter!" Adam shouted as they did just that, splitting up into four smaller groups. "Stick to the original plan! I'll get you that vantage point, blondie!"

Yang rushed to the side of the monstrous man, sending a swift volley of explosive shells at his one remaining leg. Adam fired his rifle, a pillar of rock slamming into the lower jaw of the Enclave giant, stunning him for a few seconds as Ren and Nora flanked from the rear. The pair ran up his back with Hazel in close pursuit, Ren firing his weapons onto the back of Horrigan's armor. Even the armor piercing bullets had no effect, however Nora's Maginhild did, causing large, obtuse dents in the plating. However, Hazel caught up to them, grabbing hold of their necks, slowly applying pressure to his grip. Qrow came from behind, slashing at Hazel's back, releasing his hold on the two huntsmen.

The tall brawler took two heavy swings at the busty blonde who ducked and weaved out of the way, firing off quick bursts of shotgun blasts aimed at his legs. Hazel injected earth dust into his legs, giving them a rock-like armor. He charged at Yang, slamming his rock-covered legs into the blonde's side, cracking some of her ribs in the process. Hazel took another swing, only to be staggered back by the rapid strikes from Sun's gun-chucks. Hazel slammed his electrified hands onto the metal plates that were bolted into Horrigan's back, shocking the behemoth back to life. He roared in pain as he started to regenerate his lost limb.

"Blondie! Monkey Boy! Kill him before he rises!" Adam shouted as he added a clip of ice dust to Wilt and Blush, firing rapidly at the monstrosity's legs, freezing the in their place. Frank Horrigan stood up despite his frozen legs, tipping Yang, Sun, and Hazel off of his back, forcing them to cling on for dear life.

"Sun! We have to get to his neck and break it! Do you think you can make the climb?!" Yang shouted from above.

Sun nodded, only to have him pulled down by Hazel, delivering a finishing blow to slam the faunus into the floor of the building, a crater of broken wood cushioning his fall.

"Sun!" Yang shouted in worry. Hazel began to climb after the blonde brawler with surprising speed for someone of his size. Yang used her shotgun gauntlets to move even faster, avoiding the shots of electricity and fire that bounded upwards at her, sliding from side to side. Suddenly, Frank Horrigan's two enormous hands reached onto his back, missing Yang by just an inch, whereas Hazel was grabbed and thrown to the ground.

"Get off of my ba-" Horrigan roared, only to have his head hit by Nora's powerful warhammer, smashing his jaw. The attack redirected his attention back to the people at his feet.

"_Almost there,"_ Yang thought as she reached his collar bone. Then she unleashed a relentless storm of shotgun shells onto his bulbous neck until his head was only holding on a strand of flesh. His heavy body fell, blood and fragments of metal scattered throughout the floor as Yang hopped down from Horrigan's corpse and rushed over to Sun, tending to his wounds. "Are you hurt?" she asked, coddling him with care.

"Not too badly," Sun said as Adam and co ran Hazel out of the building.

Adam slowly walked up to Yang, who shot him a nasty glare. "_What does that bastard want now?"_ she thought as she held Sun in her arms.

"Nice work taking out that beast of a man… Yang Xiao Long," the ex-White Fang member said, shooting her a happy smile as he walked past her, Amnia following quickly behind him.

"You know… you weren't that bad yourself, Adam Taurus. We should spar some time," she said said a cocky smirk.

"Yea, whenever you want, Xiao Long."

Courier Six

"Hey, Six, are you ok?" Ruby asked in her weak and weary state, trying to calm down the shaking man.

"N-no, I'm not! Th-that ma- no! That _thing_, I didn't take into account that the Enclave could have revived _him_ of all people! Oh by the sands! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm go-" Six was interrupted by Ruby slapping him across the face weakly, snapping him out of his panicked state.

She cupped his cheeks, forcing him to look into her eyes. "_You need to calm down_," the leader of team RWBY said in a stern voice. She would often use this tone of voice when voicing commands and team attacks when her team was training and on the battlefield.

"Right! I'll take a look outside to see how everything's going. I'll leave you he-" Amatus turned to face the now broken window that had a man with a long, brown, braided hair and a long scorpion tail with a metal singer. Behind him were two men wearing a lightly armored stealth suits and holding bayoneted assault rifles

"Kill the man but spare the girl!" Tyrian said with a cackle, curling his stinger up, ready to attack. He lunged forward shooting his stinger towards Six while the two men ran over to the immobilized Ruby. They took her in hand, the poor girl not being able to put up much of a fight. She kicked weakly, only to be knocked out.

"Let her go!" Six shouted, forming a large open hand of sand.

"Oh I don't think so!" Tyrian retorted, plunging the stinger into Six's shoulder, injecting the entire dosage of poison into The Courier's body, causing him to collapse in a delirious state. His vision began to blur as the captors made their escape with Ruby. All the imitation of Little Red Riding Hood left behind was her weapon, Crescent Rose. Just as the kidnappers were out of sight, the rest of the team came barging in, only to see a poisoned Six.

"Where's Ruby!" Qrow demanded as he held up The Courier by his collar.

"Sh-she was taken b-by some guy named Tyrian. He had two people with him, they went out the window," Six said, pointing at the broken glass. Everyone except for team SICA left in search of her. Cinder took out a portion of antidote, taking it in her mouth, kissing Six on the lips and distributing it by using her tongue to lead it into his throat. When they separated, Cinder could view the antidote working its magic as Six returned to his normal self. "Cinder, do you have any idea of where they took Ruby?"

"Yea, I do. The Cult of Salem has multiple locations throughout the entire continent of Anima, and there are two in Mistral. One by the train station, and one in the red light district. I'll send the locations to all of your pip-boys."

"Alright, Adam and I will go to the station location while Cinder and Ilia will go to the red light district location," Six commanded as they split up, heading out to find Ruby Rose.

**AN: **Hey guys and gals! I hope you all liked this chapter! I tried to make a more satisfying ending for Raven's story arc. There will be a lemon based off of the after credits scene in volume 5 with Taiyang and Raven. That will come at the end of this arc, then its on to the Argus Arc! There's not much that's going to happen action wise, but in terms of seeing Pyrrha's statue and making between Cinder and Jaune will take place. Please drop a review if you enjoyed or if there's something you had a problem with and have a nice evening!


	13. Ruby Rescue

Adam Taurus

"Here we are," Adam stated as Courier Six and Amnia joined him. Each brandishing their signature weapons: Amnia with her Survivalist Rifle, Six with his Ionized Flame, and Adam with Wilt and Blush. Six planted C-4 charges on the hinges of the doors, the three of them took cover around the corner and Six blew off the door. A cloud of thick smoke filled the corridor as the two three of them charged into the underground cathedral. All of the cultists turned to face the intruders, aiming their medieval-based weapons.

"Die! Heretic!" a man covered in glossy, violet armor and wielding two flaming spike flails. He aimed the butt of the handle at them, pulling a trigger which made the handles shoot poison darts. The three of them ducked, missing the poisoned projectiles by mere inches. Before they could start to advance, the two of them were charged by three cultists wielding greatswords. Six threw two glass orbs filled with sand, hitting two of them in the chest. Six manipulated the sand into the form of two barbed spears. They stabbed into two of the cultists, while Amnia held back the third one, Adam stabbing him in the back. Five more rushed them, only to be gunned down by the three of them. The leader charged with his elite guard, who were using halberds with fire dust lined metal.

The two of them lunged at once, separating them. Six changed to his grenade rifle, firing off a high-yield grenade, giving enough room for Adam and Amnia to flank from the sides, using their blades to slit the throats of the elite guard.

"You little fucks are are gonna die by my hand!" the Violet Flogger roared as he swung his weapons, hitting Amnia in the sides, knocking her out of the battle. Six threw her a stimpack and returned to the battle with Adam.

"Adam, this guy's weapons don't match up well with ours. Something that heavy can easily counter our swords with those flails of his."

"So we're going to have to dodge instead of blocking?"

"Yea. You should flank from the rear while I hold him off," Six ordered as he pulled out a large vile of sand, popping off the quark and pouring out the sand onto the ground, then manipulated it into some composite armor. He pulled out three more viles, throwing them at his new foe, slightly restraining the main baddie. Adam ran behind the goliath as he swung his weapons, only to have one of his hand separated from his wrist, leaving only one for flail left. The man showed no mercy as he slammed the metal ball into Six's abdomen, breaking through his composite armor. The power of the impact flung Six to the wall, an enormous crater forming from the power behind him.

"You've made a big mistake, _boy_," Adam hissed as he felt a sensation warmth surrounding him. "_What is this sensation?"_ he thought as his semblance began to activate on its own, the room turning to black and red rose petals began to fall from above. "_I thought I couldn't use my semblance anymore,"_ the bull faunus thought as two blades made entirely of flames erupted from the tip of his sword. Adam's body began to move for his signature finisher, however his mind was not giving the order. He sent an upward slash, towards the boss, shredding through the foe's armor, and even ripping through his flesh. The man collapsed, not responding at all.

Adam ran over to Six, helping him up to his feet. "Adam! What was _that_! That was amazing!"

"I… don't know. I had thought that my aura was depleted, and yet my semblance activated. However, it was different, a bit more potent by the look of it," Adam replied as he looked at his sword, cleaning it.

"Alright, now let's find Ruby," Six said as he led Adam and Amnia through the rest of the dungeon.

As they ran, the hall began to narrow, the concrete walls started to get closer and closer to them until they had to turn to a single-file line. They heard the sound rotors as a small light shined at the end of it. As the light grew, so to did the volume of the aircraft as it came into view. In the bay doors, Adam could see Tyrian holding Ruby hostage as the transport started to rise in the air.

"Adam! Get ready to jump and retrieve Ruby!" Six shouted as he grabbed Adam in large hand of sand and tossed him into the transport. He shot at Tyrian, just managing to block all of his blows. Six grabbed Ruby and Adam as the plane flew off. The three of them met back up at the house as Amnia carried Ruby along the way.

They randevu at the house, gathering up their things to leave for Argus. Ruby was looked after by Qrow as team SICA, RWBY, and JNR got ready to take the train. As they were walking down to the station, Adam caught up with Weiss.

"What is it, Taurus?" she asked, not wanting to engage in any sort of conversation with him.

"There's something I need you to help me with," he said as he handed her one of the many letters he had kept with him at all times. "How familiar are you with your father's handwriting?" he inquired.

"What would _you_ want with my father's handwriting?" Weiss asked, deflecting the question.

"The letter I just handed you, I just want to know if its your father's handwriting that's on it."

"And what significance are these letters to you?" the youngest Schnee girl asked.

"These letters…" he said, holding them up to her face. "Will either prove or disprove a theory I have."

"And what theory is that?"

"That you and I… are siblings," Adam Taurus said with a strait face.

"You have some sick sense of humor, Adam," Weiss laughed him off, however Adam did not change his expression.

"I'm not kidding. His initials are on _every single one_ of these letters. I _know_ my mother was a house servant under him for a short while, I know my familial father is _not_ my genetic father, and I am _sure_ that your father's eye color and mine aren't the same by chance," Adam surmised.

Weiss stopped in her tracks, and looked back over her shoulder with a stern look. "And so what if you _are_ my older brother, what would that change?!" By this point the entire group, even the previous white fang leaders and their families.

"Everything," he said as they continued to walk, buying their tickets for the Argus Express. "It would mean that I could get some money to build a huntsman academy in Menagerie! But more importantly, I could finally have a family again…" Adam said as he sat down with Weiss.

"Fine, but don't get your hopes up," Weiss said as she began to read the first letter.

"Hey, where's Ruby?" Six asked as he sat next to Cinder, who was wearing a subtle disguise, having cut her hair and wearing a mask that only covered her upper face.

"She said she was going to buy a gift for me," Yang said as she read a magazine. Minutes later the train pulled into the station, and Ruby rushed back to get the first pick of seats. Adam joined team RWBY to analyze the letters while Sun joined team SICA, Qrow and Amnia joining team JNR as the train took off.

Raven Branwen

The black-haired woman warped through one of her portals, reaching the homestead of Taiyang Xiao Long. She slowly walked up to the door, trepidation haunting her every step as she approached the door. Her chest felt heavy and burdensome as the guilt of what she'd done to her husband and daughter.

However, she had nowhere else to run, her people were butchered by the Enclave, and Vernal had abandoned her, and now all she had was Tai and Yang Xiao Long. She raised her fist, getting ready to knock on the barrier to entry. Tears began to form under her eyes as the leader of the Branwen tribe knocked on the door. She heard the heavy steps of her lover's feet and the fast, pidder-patter of Zwei's short, stubby feet. The door slowly creaked open to reveal Taiyang and Zwei standing there, the ladder cocking his head with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, and the former just stood there peering into the spring maiden's eyes, saying nothing.

"T-Tai?" Raven asked as she took a step forward hesitantly reaching out a hand. She saw his hands ball up into fists as the black-haired woman took a few steps back.

"How?! How can you just come back after all this time?!" the blonde man questioned, taking a hostile step forward. "We were supposed to be a _family_, Raven. I _loved you_, and you just threw that away. So answer me. Why did you come back? That's all I want to know."

"I-I'm scared! For the first time in my life I feel so exposed, so… vulnerable, and I don't like it. The reason why I came _here_ is because… this is where I feel the safest," Raven explained, only to receive a heavy sigh from Tai.

"Alright, you can stay the night. I'll see if you can stay for longer in the morning, now come in, I'm making lunch." Raven joined him in the kitchen, taking place at the table. They ate in relative silence, the only notable sound was sound was when Zwei jumped up onto Raven's lap, resting there for the remainder of the meal.

"Did you enjoy your meal?" Tai asked as Raven began to wash her dishes.

"Yes. It was quite nice. That's something I've always missed ever since I left," she said as she finished up.

"Good. now join me in the bedroom. I've made up my mind."

"Have you? So what's your decision? Shall I stay after tonight or will I be banished?" Raven flirted as she pressed her chest up against Tai's.

"You'll give me another child. If you do this for me, I will give you a second chance at being a part of this family," he explained, wrapping an arm around Raven's waist.

"Oh, so it's to the bedchamber then? Well I hope you can tame me this afternoon, because if you can't, I don't think I can bear a child." the two of them traveled over to what was once their shared bed, Taiyang taking off his lover's armor and clothes, only her lingerie remained. She raunchily sauntered over to the bed, taking off the last of her clothing. The patriarch of the Xaoi Long household followed suit, revealing his large, throbbing member, taking the Branwen sister by the waist, slamming it into her opening. She emitted an aroused moan as he pumped it into her.

"You enjoying your second time with me?" Tai panted as he leaned over Raven, gentilly holding the back of her head, tilting it back slightly before slamming his lips onto hers as their tongues bound together, like that of a tightly bound french braid. Raven wrapped her arms around her lover as they continued to intimately mingle. Tai pushed his rod deeper into Raven as she squirmed in pleasure. She felt her some pressure from her breasts as Tai's free hand softly squeezed them, she moaned through the passionate kiss. They seperated their lips each of them panting.

Taiyang pumped his first load into her, his lover emitting a lewd cry of pleasure. "More! Make me your husband again!" she moaned as she gave Tai a small kiss on his neck. "I'm going to make you all mine again," she whispered into his ear as she felt a second load enter her womb. She pulled away, some of the excess semen leaking out of her entrance. She stretched a bit before called Tai over to for round two.

"You _really did_ miss me, well let's continue!" The middle aged man said as Raven assumed the doggystyle position. Tai came from behind, gripping her and hastily inserted his now massively erect cock into Raven, thrusting in and out, the disgraced bandit enduring her deserved shame as moved her hips against his force, feeling his hips collided with her rear. She panted in lust and lechery. "Raven. I'm going to make you so pleased that you'll level want me to come out of you!" Tai shouted as the power and speed of his thrusts increased tenfold. He tightly grabbed her breasts, squeezing the two sexual organs relentlessly like he was milking a cow's udder. Raven continued to moan and pant as she was milked, cum spurting out of her nipples, and she emitted a final moan.

"Tttttttaaaaaiiiiiii! M-make me y-y-your… slut!" Raven begged at Tai obliged her, shooting an extended load into her, the excess load leaking from her as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed, only small, cute breaths coming from her. She began to cry as Tai pulled out of her and wrapped his arms around her and pulled a blanket over the two of them. "Th-thank you so much honey!" Raven rejoiced as she cuddled up with him. The two of them joined in a loving kiss as Raven rested her head in Tai's arms.

"What are you thanking me for, my little bandit?"

"For… taking me in, despite all I've done to you," Raven mumbled as she hid her blushing face in her lover's chest. "I… promise I won't leave this time…" she said sheepishly as she hid her eyes from his.

"Oh. I know, but for now, lets just rest," Tai said as he threaded his fingers through her jet black hair. "I'm just so excited to see our new child," he whispered as he fell asleep.


	14. Train Ride

Lone Wanderer

"Lone, what are we doing here following _them_, shouldn't we be reporting back to Salem?" Emerald asked as she sat down next to Mercury, the roaring sound of the train running on the gravity dust tracks.

"Well my beautiful Emerald," Lone said as Neo plopped into her lap with a malicious smile on her face as she cleaned her weapon. "That man, the one who's seduced Cinder, is the one who's in the way of Salem's plans."

"But don't you have a dog in this fight?" Mercurey asked as he ate an energy bar.

"Of course I do! Because _I'm_ going to kill Courier Six, it just so happens that Salem's plans aline with mine, well… that, and I _love_ you guys so much!" Lone squealed with joy as she hugged all three of them as one, Neo, Emerald, and even Mercury hugged her back.

"Thanks, Lone," Emerald said with small blush on her face.

"Don't mention it. I always protect my own, I wouldn't be a good team leader if I didn't care for you all," Lone said with a wholesome smile. Just as the four of them were finished with their embrace, there was a knock on the cargo door.

"Alright, lets finish this up, Dudley," one man said to the other.

"Come on Dee, we already checked this one," Dudley complained.

"Yea, but I heard some voices coming from inside," Dee reminded his partner as team LEMN scurried behind a pile of boxes.

"Emerald," Lone whispered. "Do you think you could use your semblance on them both?"

"Yup! I've been practicing since the Vytal Festival," Emerald said with enthusiasm as she began to activate her semblance, the illusion enveloping Dee and Dudley as they finished surveying the cargo compartment.

"You feeling stupid now, Dee?" Dudley asked as they finished up the search and exited the car back to the passenger cars.

Neo looked up to Lone as if to say "Wow, that was a close one!"

"It sure was my little assassin! Now you three get some rest, I'll take watch," Lone said with enthusiasm as the three outlaws opened a crate of silk pillows and laid down to rest. She opened up her scroll, looking through some new information she received from Wattz while she was in Salem's castle. "Oh, now _this_ is something juicy!" she said as her eyes sharpened and she began to breathe heavily.

Sun Wukong

The earnest monkey faunus was sitting next to Yang as she watched over her little sister, Ruby Rose. "Hey Yang, where'd Blake go?" he asked.

"Oh, she went over to hang out with Ilia. Why, do you wanna talk to her?" the blonde brawler asked.

"No, I just want to make sure she's doing ok, but since she's with Ilia, she should be fine," Sun said as he wrapped his arm around Yang's shoulders, Yang returning the favor as she leaned her head on him.

"Hey Sun…" Yang said, as she turned her head up to face him. "Do you like me?" she asked.

"Well of course I like you! You're so positive and a _great_ workout-partener to boot!"

"Do you… love me?" Yang asked with a quizzical look aimed at Sun.

"Yes. I don't know how, but I feel so at ease when I'm around you, its like all the troubles and worries I have washed away like the ocean at low tide when I'm around you. You make me feel so… calm," Sun explained as he leaned his head on hers, their blonde hair intermingling a bit. "Hey Yang."

"Yea Sun, what is it?"

"I'm worried for Blake."

"Why?"

"Because I think she hasn't forgiven herself. For abandoning you. I mean, you two are partners after all," Sun pointed out as Yang nodded in agreement.

"Yea, I've noticed it too, but I don't know what to do," Yang said, a disappointed frown growing on her face.

"Well have you ever just sat her down face to face, one on one, and just said you forgave her?"

"No… I haven't… Once we reach Argus, I'll do that. Thanks Sun!" Yang said as she got comfortable in Sun's arms and fell asleep.

In the adjacent room Amatus and Cinder were cuddling up in a bed. "Hey Cinder, which town are we going to?" Six asked as he spooned with his partner, her warm hands covering his own.

"It's not a town, Six, it's a city, and its name is Argus. It's a big port that connects the continents of Anima and Solitas. Atlas has a military base at the port, but due to the dust embargo its been hard to get a ship going to Atlas," Cinder explained as she enjoyed the warmth of her significant other. After lying there in blissful silence for a few moments, Cinder pulled a pair of black gloves with red lines leading from the palm, wrapping around the fingers and converging on the back of the hand.

"Hm? What are those?" Six asked as he peaked above her shoulder, getting a look at the gloves.

"They're some gloves I've created for when we arrive in Argus. The climate there is far colder than a desert, and it will get even colder in Atlas, so I imbued some low-grade fire dust into the gloves to act as hand warmers. I wasn't able to get enough dust for a full outfit, but once we reach Atlas, I can upgrade your apparel. Until then, you need to keep your stuff in good condition, ok?" Cinder asked as she looked over her shoulder at Six who had buried his face in her back, half asleep.

Just as The Courier was about to get some sleep, the dust rail began to shake as if something had landed on top of it. Just as it did, the roof above the couple was ripped open by a large, winged beast. Six grabbed Ionized Flame and his grenade launcher as Cinder grabbed Maria, loading in some modified hollow point rounds and activating the flamethrower attachment to her robotic limb.

"So _that's_ what a grimm looks like…" Six said with a bored look on his face. "Doesn't seem so bad compared to a deathclaw or cazador," he continued as he fired a few grenades at the winged grimm. "But that just begs question: what drew them here?" Six whispered to himself as he jumped up, charging the grimm with Ionized Flame. Cinder scouted out the rest of the train as even more grimm descended upon the train. "Cinder! Get to the others! I'll hold these guys off!" Six shouted as Cinder nodded, running over to the other rooms, rallying the huntsmen and huntresses.

The winged grimm charged Amatus, who slid under it, cutting through its belly, a black gaseous fog leaking from the wound. It swiped at his arm, only to be stabbed by ionized flame, which expelled both flames and electricity as Six pulled the throttle on the grip. The creature burst into small ash-like dust particles. Three more of the winged beasts landed on the train and fired some fireballs his way. Six ducked, avoiding the first too, but took the third one blasted him off of the train. "_Shit! At a speed like this, I'll probably due on impact,"_ Six thought as he threw a line of his sand to hook onto the back of the train. The manticores started to burrow into the train, only for them to be dealt a swift death by the hand of team RWBY as they emerged from the train car.

"You're looking a bit rusty there, old timer! Need any help?" Yang asked as she fought off a chimera.

"Naw, I'm good," Six said with a childish smirk as he charged the chimeras, firing a cluster of grenades in their direction. Suddenly, another winged creature, but larger and with a different appearance diving out of the clouds, trying to snatch the group up.

"The fuck is _that_?!" Six asked, pointing at the sphinx.

"Deathclaws don't seem so bad now, do they?" Cinder quipped as she shot a few fireballs at the airborne enemies.

"Deathclaws? Those sound scary!" Ruby said before beheading a chimera.

"Yea, real scary fuckers," Six said as he fired the flamethrower at an incoming nethermore, scaring it off as it flew up, sending a flurry of feathers at the group, Six creating a few sand shields to block the feathers that posed a threat. The nethermore swooped down picking up Ilia and Amnia. Ilia wrapped Lover's Scorn around its neck, as Amnia cut off the legs of the nethermore, dragging it down back to the ground, where Ilia finished it off.

"We can't keep fighting these things off! They just keep coming!" Six said as he shot down another chimera. "We need to gather all of the civilians at the front of the train so we can get the civilians out of here. Once they're gathered in the front car, we'll detach and be a decoy. That way the rest of the passengers should be able to escape!" Six said as team JNR all nodded, going back into the passenger car, gathering the civilians to the front of the train.

"Keep fighting!" Ruby shouted as she cut through an incoming chimera. They did just that, keeping the creatures' attention.

"Cutting the clamp!" Six shouted as he slashed through the metal clamp, watching as the lead car slowly got farther and farther away. Just as he was about to rejoin the group, a sword broke through the window of the car, a few shards of glass stabbing into Six's back. He turned around to face Lone, her two swords pointed at Six.

"It's been a while, my little Courier!"


	15. A Bitter Truth Revealed

Adam Taurus

I awoke with my head face-down in the snow, it's cold grip slowly releasing me as I rose from the ground. I looked around, seeing Blake and her comrades were already standing, while Cinder, The Courier, and Ilia were just getting up. Amnia, Sienna and Joshua had taken the train to Argus with Team JNR. Oscar and Qrow had joined them from the wreck.

"Is everyone alright?" I heard The Courier ask.

Blake and her teammates gave a thumbs up, so did Oscar and Qrow. "Hey Ruby, where's the lamp?" Oscar asked as his eyes began to glow green.

"With me," she replied, holding it up.

"Would you be kind enough to hand it over?" Ozpin said as he gained full control over Oscar's body.

"No," she replied.

"Ruby… give it to him," Qrow insisted, palming his weapon. I glanced over to Six, only to see his hand hovering over his weapon as well.

"What do you plan to do if this turns violent?" Cinder whispered.

"Back up team RWBY."

"Good," Ilia replied.

"What reason have you given us to trust you?" Yang asked, activating Ember Celica.

"And why does it matter who carries it?" Blake questioned.

Ozpin reached out only for Oscar to gain momentary control. "Don't give it to him!" he shouted.

"Why?" Six asked, stepping forward.

"Because he's trying to hide its true potential! Its name… is Jinn!" Oscar warned.

"Jinn?" Ruby said with a shaky voice, not sure of what would happen. A large whirlwind of blue gas started to cover the group as the snow stopped falling.

"What is it you need?" the blue female genie asked.

"What has Ozpin been hiding from us?"

"NO!" Ozpin screeched as he sprinted at Ruby, only for everything to go white at Jin began to narrate.

"There was once a beautiful woman by the name… of Salem,"

Six stood there, taking in all of the new information as the vision faded and the snow started to fall once more. "Jin," he said as the genie turned to face him as did everyone else. "H-"

"Don't waste our last question!" Ozpin demanded as Ruby walked up to The Courier.

"Amatus, what are you going to ask?"

Six chuckled as he gave a heavy sigh. "Noticed the wording of Ozpin's question. He didn't ask how Salem could be defeated, but rather how _he_ could defeat her."

"But why would Jin lie?" Yang asked.

"Because Jin is a genie. Genies are well known for being real sticklers for detail, so I intend to ask how Salem can be defeated."

"And what if she can't? What if she really _is_ immortal? What then?" Cinder asked, crossing her arms.

"The god of light did say that Salem would rest once she knew the importance of life and death. So there's a chance we can't defeat her through conflict and violence. So, Jin, how can Salem be defeated?"

The blue genie waited there in the air, rubbing her chin before giving an answer. "Through sacrifice." And with that Jin took her leave, entering back into the lamp, all the available questions used up.

"What sort of answer is that?!" Yang shouted, her eyes flaring red and her hair starting to crackle into flames.

"Its the one we got, blondie," I retorted as he started making his way to the snowy trail.

"Hey Adam, do you even know where that leads?" Ilia asked.

"No, but its better than freezing to death out here," I shot back.

"I for one agree," Maria Calavera said in a chipper tone, following the bull faunus along. Eventually everyone was walking together, Weiss was up front with me, discussing the details of the letters we were looking over on the train, Ilia and Blake were talking with Six and Cinder, and the rest of our group was staying in the back. We eventually reached a small communal farm, we each started to explore the farm grounds, Weiss, Yang and I explored the storage shed while the others looked around the houses.

"So Adam, what do you think you're gonna do with those letters?" Weiss asked as she rummaged through some gas canisters.

"Confront your father about them," I replied as I started to clear some cardboard boxes.

"You two have been awfully close today, are you two gonna get married or something?!" Yang bursted out laughing.

"No. That would be an incestuous relationship," I replied with small chuckle.

Yang's mouth slowly opened as she pointed to Weiss, then me, then Weiss again. "You, and… you! Oh my god! I've _got _to tell Ruby about this!"

"Please don't, look Yang, he's a half brother at best," Weiss replied with a dismissive handwave.

"This is too funny! So the terrorist…"

"Ex-terrorist," I corrected Yang.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yea, _ex-terrorist_ and the people he's been terrorizing were related all along! This is beyond comedy!"

"Yes, yes, it's all very funny, but could you not spill the beans to everyone else?" Weiss pleaded.

"Sure thing, Ice Queen," Yang winked as she continued searching around the shed.

Inside a nearby ruined house, Six and Cinder searched for anything of use. "Hey Cinder," Amatus asked as he inspected a piece of mechanical equipment. "Do you think its possible to beat her?"

Cinder gave a heavy sigh as she picked through a half broken cabinet. "I honestly don't know."

"Don't you think we should let the others know that there's not a guaranteed chance of success?"

"No. It would bring down morale, which is something we need at an all time high right now," Cinder reminded him.

"Understood. And what if we fail?" Six asked, looking Cinder in the eyes.

"Then we run until we're either dead or safe."

"And how will we know that we're safe?"

Cinder gave another heavy sigh as she touched her forehead to his, placing her hands on his cheeks. "We won't, dear, we won't. But if it's any consolation, I'll be glad I spent my last days with you," Cinder whispered, giving The Courier and gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Hey! What are you two doing?!" Ruby shouted with a disgusted, childish face. Cinder snickered as she got back to looking through the ruined house. "Hey, Cinder…" Ruby asked, a timid expression on her face. "What do you think happened here?" she asked as Six moved some wooden planks revealing a dead couple laying in their now destroyed bed. Their bodies were gaunt and depleted, as if they had been embalmed. Ruby quickly backed away with her mouth agape. Her eyes began to fill up with tears as only pained whispers escaped her mouth. "Wha-what is that!"

"Corpses," Cinder replied as she crouched down to examine the bodies.

"There's no sign of a disturbance," Six commented, nudging one of the corpses onto its side.

"W-What?"

"What he's saying, Ruby, is that these people just… died. There was no struggle, no fight, no resistance, they just layed down and died from either dehydration or starvation," Cinder explained.

"By why?! Why would someone just do that?!" Ruby questioned as she tried her damndest to make sense of it.

"Is there a grimm that could do that? Make people apathetic towards life?"

"There is, but never to such a degree. Its called the Apathy. They look like a human with an exoskeleton. While other grimm are usually attracted by negative emotion, the Apathy simply wander around. They usually move in packs of a few dozen, but are pretty harmless when they're on their own," Cinder said.

"So it's an Apathy that caused this?" Ruby asked.

"Most likely, but we can't be sure," Six said with a grim look on his face.

In the house near the well, Qrow was drinking himself for comfort. "Hey, old man! What do you think you're doing there!?" Ilia shouted, angrily poking him in the shoulder.

"Hey squirt! How about you stop poking me and leave me be!" Qrow shot back, shooing Ilia away.

"What's his problem?" She asked Blake, who was looking through some books with Maria in the living room of the house.

"Oh, I don't know, but he _is_ Ruby and Yang's uncle, which is why he's here," Blake explained.

"Ah, fine, lets go, he's clearly not going to be of any help," Ilia explained as she walked off to the edge of the small farming community. It was there that she spotted something odd. There were three corpses lying in the snow, however, it appeared that there was no struggle or attempt to flee. The bodes were simply lying on the ground as if they had fell asleep on the ground.

"What is it, Ilia?" Blake asked as she caught up to her lover. She stared upon the corpses, a bit unnerved. "We should tell everyone about this." Ilia nodded, the two of them walking back to the main house.

Everyone was gathered in the house to discuss their findings.

"I managed to find a trailer hitch in the shed along with a cart to hitch Bumblebee to," Yang said, twirling a lock of her hair in boredom.

"Cinder and I found… a few corpses upstairs, Cinder said that they had died due to a grimm called the Apathy," Ruby explained.

"We found some corpses just outside of the commune too," Blake exclaimed.

"Well since there's grimm in the area, don't you think that we should head out now?" Six asked as he rubbed his temple.

"But why would we do that?" Qrow asked, his breath reeking of booze and a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"Because if there's Grimm lurking around that could _kill us_ then we should leave immediately!" Six shot back, a bit of anger rising from his voice.

"Go fuck yourself mr. johnny come lately! If _you_ haden't come along then maybe, juuuuuust maybe, I wouldn't have to be siding with _killers_ and _terrorists_. Fucking outie," Qrow snapped back at The Courier.

"_What_ did you just call me?!" Six asked, clenching his fist. I noticed Ilia giving me a concerned look as the argument continued to escalate between Six and Qrow.

"You heard what I said you fucking OUTIE!" Qrow shot back. "And in case you didn't know, an OUTIE is an outsider, someone who doesn't belong… _anywhere_… just like my sister."

"Hey!" Yang shouted, glaring down Qrow. "That's my mother you're talking about!"

"Yea, and what did she ever do for you? She popped you out and abandoned you!"

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby mumbled. "You're one too you know. An Outie…" she said tightly grabbing onto his arm. "So don't go shouting at people who are trying to help us!"

Six walked out of the house as Cinder followed close behind him, everyone else looking on at the spectacle. "Give me that!" Maria cracked as she snatched the helf empty bottle of alcohol out of Qrow's hands.

"Hey! That's mine!" Qrow growled.

"I think you've done enough damage this evening. Anyways, it looks like your nieces wish to speak with you," Lady Calavera said, walking over to a nearby recliner.

"Hm, _fine_," Qrow gave up as Ruby and Yang led him into a different room to likely speak about his heavy consumption of alcohol.

"Hey Adam, I'm going to go check on Six, wanna come?" Ilia asked.

I gave a heavy sigh. "Sure." We walked outside to see an oddly blank expression on Six's face.

"We should just go. They don't need us anymore. We can settle down in Argus," Six said in a disappointed tone.

"I agree, we should give Ruby's group some space and work separately," Ilia pointed out.

I gave a relieved sigh, helping Courier Six to his feet. "Give Ilia and I a few minutes, we need to say goodbye to some people."

"I understand Ilia, but _you_?" Cinder asked with a bemused smirk. I rolled my eyes, walking back to the house.

Weiss met me at the door, a worried look in her eyes. "Is Amatus ok?"

"He's… ok. I think. Weiss, Team SICA is going to be traveling separately from your group. I plan on meeting up with Sienna and Joshua and hopefully getting them to join us. In the meantime I need you to hold onto these for me," I said, handing her the letters from her father. "Keep them safe, will you?"

"Of course Adam." I nodded and began to walk away when I felt Weiss tugging at my sleeve. "Hey, let me get your scroll number, so when this is all over maybe I can help you join my family!" Weiss said with a smile.

I gave a hearty chuckle and accepted, handing her my scroll. I looked over her shoulder, making out Ilia giving her goodbyes to Blake. The two of them waved goodbye to each other as they parted ways.

Ilia and I rejoined Cinder and Six as we set out on our walk to Argus.

AN: Hey guys and gals! Its been a long time since I've posted a chapter. I hope Y'all are still enjoying the content I'm putting out.


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